Anti-CAA stir: Notice to 28 people for recovery of Rs 25 lakh for damage to property in Rampur
Rampur (UP): The Rampur administration has issued notices to 28 people "identified for violence" during last week's anti-citizenship law protests here, asking them to explain their position or pay for damage caused to public and private property, officials said on Wednesday.
The notices were issued on Tuesday after damage of nearly Rs 25 lakh was assessed across the district by the police and the administration, they said. Police had initially said that the damage incurred was worth around Rs 15 lakh but the final assessment put the figure at Rs 25 lakh, they added.
"Notices have been issued to 28 people who have been identified for violence during the protests. They have been given seven days' time to respond why action should not be taken against them, failing which, proceedings will be initiated to recover money from them for destruction of public and private property," District Magistrate Aunjaneya Singh told PTI.
A 22-year-old man died of a bullet injury here on Saturday during violent protests against the amended Citizenship Act. Several locals and policemen were injured, and six vehicles, including a police motorcycle, were torched, according to officials.
So far 33 people have been arrested and more than 150 identified in connection with the violence in Rampur, the police said.
Protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act had broken out in several districts of Uttar Pradesh on Thursday, leaving at least 17 people dead and moveable and immoveable assets damaged, mostly in arson.
Along with UP, several parts of the country have been witnessing protests against the amended Citizenship Act and the proposed implementation of a pan-India National Register of Citizens (NRC).
The Citizenship (Amendment) Act provides for grant of citizenship to persecuted minority Hindus, Sikhs, Christians, Jain, Buddhists and Parsis of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, who have taken refuge in India before December 31, 2014.
Critics say that leaving Muslims out of the ambit of the law is a violation of the Fundamental Right to Equality under Article 14 of the Constitution and is against the secular ethos of the country.
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SC to hear pleas for reviewing wages of priests, temple staff
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on Monday a plea to constitute a judicial commission or an expert committee to review the wages and other benefits given to priests, 'sevadars' and temple staff in state-controlled temples.
A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta is likely to hear the PIL filed by advocate Ashwini Upadhyay.
The plea, filed through advocate Ashwani Dubey, seeks directions to the Centre and states to constitute a judicial commission or an expert committee to review the remuneration and other benefits given to the priests and temple staff in state-controlled temples.
"Petitioner also seeks a declaration that priests and temple staff are employee' under Section 2(k) of the Code on Wages, 2019. Petitioner submits that once the State assumes the administrative, economic and financial control over temples, an employer-employee relationship arises and denial of dignified wages to priests and temple staff violates the right to livelihood guaranteed under Article 21," it said.
Upadhyay said the cause of action accrued on April 4, when he went to Varanasi to attend a public programme and after performing 'Rudrabhishek' in the Kashi Vishwanath temple, which is controlled by the state, he came to know that even the minimum wages to live with dignity are not given to the priests and temple staff.
"Recently, in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, priests and temple staff organised a large-scale protest demanding the minimum wages. Priests and temple staff are not getting even the minimum wage prescribed by the State for unskilled and semi-skilled workers. This is a systemic exploitation. State is acting as a model employer through the endowments department, but violating the minimum wages Act and the directive principles of state policy (Article 43)," it said.
The plea further said the continued refusal to meet the minimum wages with the 2026 inflation-adjusted cost of living index has forced the petitioner to seek judicial intervention to prevent the further marginalisation of priests and temple staff.
Upadhyay further said the precarious nature of livelihood was starkly exposed on February 7, 2025, when a Tamil Nadu department issued a circular at the 'Dandayuthapani Swami Temple' in Madurai, strictly prohibiting priests from accepting 'dakshina' in 'aarti plates'.
"It is necessary to state that priests in such temples often receive no formal salary from the State and rely entirely on 'Dakshina'; the State's administrative order directly threatened them with starvation. Although withdrawn due to public outrage, the incident highlights the State's arbitrary power over the survival of the priests. This is also a bitter truth that States are controlling lakhs of temples but not a single mosque or church," the PIL claimed.
The petition, alternatively, sought direction to the Centre and states to take appropriate steps for the welfare of priests, sevadars and other temple staff in the spirit of the Allahabad High Court's earlier judgments.
