Protests In Assam After PM Says Government Working On Citizenship Bill
CM asks the public to keep calm
Guwahati, Jan 5: Protests over the Citizenship Bill erupted at various places in Assam on Saturday, a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi said his government was working to ensure the proposed legislation gets Parliament nod.
The agitators burnt effigies of Modi in Lower Assam and Dibrugarh, even as Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal assured the people that he would protect the interests of the state.
The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 seeks to amend the Citizenship Act, 1955, to grant nationality to people belonging to minority communities -- Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians -- in Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan after six years of their residence in India.
Several indigenous organisations in the state have been opposing the bill as they believe it would harm their cultural identity.
The PM, after flagging off the BJP's Lok Sabha poll campaign in the northeast, said Friday that the bill was "not for the benefit of anyone but a penance against the injustice and many wrongs done in the past".
Around 70 organisations, led by Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS), took out protest rallies in the state capital in the morning.
The KMSS members had plans to march to the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) headquarters here to ask the party to break off its alliance with the BJP, but the police prevented them from doing so, its leader Akhil Gogoi Gogoi told reporters
"We took out the rally to urge the people to come out of their homes and protest against the prime minister's announcement. The bill will put the identity of the indigenous people at stake.
"We cannot tolerate a leader coming from Delhi and threatening our very existence while the chief minister and other BJP leaders applaud him," Gogoi said.
Meanwhile, Sonowal on Saturday asked the people to keep calm as the state government would never do anything to harm their interests.
"I am the chief minister of Assam and I have been entrusted with the duty of protecting the interest of the people of both Brahmaputra and Barak Valley. People should not doubt the government's intention," he told reporters on the sidelines of a function here.
He said he would go all out to secure the identity of its people.
"We are committed to fulfill our responsibilities with sincerity. I will go all out to ensure that 'Jati-Mati-Bheti and Krishti' (community, land, homeland and cultural identity) are not affected," he added.
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SC directs states, UTs to furnish updated details on prisons, including overcrowding
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court has directed all the states and Union territories to furnish updated details relating to jails, including the sanctioned capacity of each prison and steps taken to check overcrowding, by May 18.
A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta also asked the states and UTs to provide details about the number of women’s prisons within their jurisdictions and the facilities available in them, including the measures taken to ensure education and overall welfare of children living with the female inmates.
The bench noted that senior advocate Gaurav Agrawal, who is assisting the top court as an amicus curiae in a suo motu matter concerning inhuman conditions in jails, has drawn its attention to the fact that the statistics placed on record by the states and UTs pertain to 2023.
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The bench said that, having regard to the nature of issues involved and the necessity of an informed adjudicatory exercise, the availability of updated contemporaneous data was indispensable for the effective consideration of the proceedings.
“Accordingly, we deem it appropriate to direct all the states and Union territories to place on record updated and comprehensive statistics relating to all prisons situated within their respective jurisdictions,” the bench said in its order passed on March 17.
It said the data shall include jail-wise capacity of each prison, total number of prisoners, percentage of overcrowding in each jail, steps proposed to address overcrowding, details of women’s jails, facilities provided to women prisoners and children accompanying them (including educational and medical facilities), sanctioned strength of prison staff, existing vacancies, steps taken to fill them, along with all ancillary aspects relating to prison administration.
The bench directed the states and UTs to furnish complete particulars indicating the sanctioned capacity of each prison and the total number of prisoners lodged as on March 1, 2026, along with jail-wise details reflecting the extent of occupancy.
The apex court said the states and UTs would file comprehensive affidavits, duly sworn by the home secretary, providing the requisite details by May 18.
It said the top court registry would forward copies of the affidavits received from the states and UTs to the amicus, who would prepare a comprehensive note detailing the statistics and information provided by them.
It posted the matter for hearing on May 26.
