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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BJP using women's quota bill as front to pass Delimitation Bill that will break India: Mamata
Cooch Behar (WB) (PTI): Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday alleged the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre was using the proposed amendment to the women's quota law in Parliament as a front for the Delimitation Bill that would "break the country into pieces".
The TMC will fight this Central government's move at every step, she asserted at her party's poll rally here.
The Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill to tweak the women's quota law, along with the Delimitation Bill and the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill, to implement the proposed amended women's quota law, in the Union territories of Delhi, Puducherry and Jammu and Kashmir, were introduced in the Lok Sabha on Thursday.
According to the Constitution amendment bill, Lok Sabha seats will be increased to a maximum of 850 from the current 543 to "operationalise" the women's reservation law before the 2029 parliamentary polls, following a delimitation exercise based on the 2011 Census.
Seats will also be increased in state and Union territory assemblies to accommodate 33 per cent reservation for women.
Opposing the Centre's move, Banerjee alleged that "the BJP brought the Delimitation Bill while keeping the women's reservation bill at the front".
"The BJP is trying to increase the number of seats in the Lok Sabha to nearly 850 through the Delimitation Bill. It will break the country into pieces," the TMC supremo said.
She also alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was not speaking the truth about the development of north Bengal at a BJP rally last week.
"The prime minister said nothing was done for the development of north Bengal. But we spent Rs 1.72 lakh crore on the development of the region," Banerjee said and asked Modi to cross-check data before making such remarks.
