Delhi Riots, A day of shame, When Humanity Dies

On 24 February 2020, a series of riots and violent incidents began at North East Delhi in which 37 people were killed and more than 200 people were injured. Protests were being held against the Citizenship Amendment Act, National Register of Citizens (NRC) and National Population Register (NPR) when a BJP leader and former legislator Kapil Mishra issued a three day ultimatum to the Delhi Police to clear the roads being occupied by the protestors failing which he stated that he would forcefully end the protests. Following his comments, multiple clashes began occurring across North East Delhi from the next day, resulting in widespread police and civilian deaths. The police have been accused by many witnesses of not doing enough to prevent violence and in many instances aiding the perpetrators. As of 27 February 2020, police have registered 48 FIRs and arrested 106 individuals, involved in the violence.

Protests began across India in December 2019 in response to the passage of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) by both houses of Parliament. Protesters have agitated not only against the citizenship issues of the CAA, but also against the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the National Population Register (NPR). On the intervening night of 22–23 February 2020, around 500 to 1000 women started a sit-in protest at a stretch of Seelampur–Jaffrabad road in North East Delhi. The protest blocked the entry and exit to the Seelampur metro station. According to the protesters, the sit-in was in solidarity with the Bharat Bandh called by the Bhim Army, which was scheduled to begin on 23 February. Police and paramilitary personnel were deployed at the site.

India’s Jawaharlal Nehru University attacked : ‘We thought … we all will lose our lives …

2020 JNU Attack refers to the incident on 5 January, when a masked mob consisting of hundreds of people armed with rods and sticks attacked the campus of Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi and injured more than 39 students and teachers. Many students received serious injuries. Eyewitnesses, including students injured in the attack, as well as opposition parties and left-wing organizations, accused the members of the BJP’s student wing, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) of orchestrating the attacks. ABVP, a Hindu nationalist student organization denied involvement and accused the left wing organisations though they couldn’t show any of their injured students. Professors who tried to intervene and save the students were also attacked. Eyewitnesses stated that policemen within the campus did not intervene to stop the mob. After attacking the residents for 3 hours, the mob escaped without anyone getting arrested or detained.

Police have said that some of the masked attackers have been identified but no arrests have been made yet and complaints have been filed as a single FIR on unknown person. All 36 students who were injured and admitted to AIIMS were discharged within 24 hours. An FIR was also been filed by administrator of JNU at the same time against the JNU Students’ Union chief and others of JNU who were injured in this attack for vandalism. The Jawaharlal Nehru University has been associated with Left-wing activism since many years. The students of JNU had been participating in the Citizenship Amendment Act protests. The attack has been called an attempt to suppress student activism during the Citizenship Amendment Act protests. According to a professor, around 50 teachers and 200 students were holding a meeting on the campus to discuss their opposition to the increase in hostel fees when the attack started. The attack has been associated by some as a way to prevent students from raising their voice against the CAA and fee hike.

On 5 January, at around 7 pm, a masked mob consisting of dozens of people and at least one woman, armed with iron rods, sledgehammers, sticks and bricks attacked the campus of Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi and injured the students and teachers and vandalized its hostels. The assault lasted for 3 hours, where the mob moved from one hostel to the other attacking the people. They chanted slogans calling the victims to be “naxalites” and “anti-national”. Attackers shouted “Jai Shri Ram” (Hail Lord Ram!). The slogan has been used as a battle cry by far right Hindu groups. The witnesses stated that the attackers broke windows and also attacked the medics.  In the incident video attackers were seen charging down the hostel hallway raising sticks, bats and broken bottles to attack while the students shouted “get out”. The leaders of student bodies with liberal views and those who spoke against Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist policies were attacked. Some students locked themselves up inside rooms to escape the attackers.

Sabarmati Hostel with 400 students residing in it, was reported to have faced the worst attack. And two students jumped from their rooms on the first floor in an attempt to escape the attackers. They fractured their legs in the jump. The hostel was damaged badly in the attack. Every floor in the hostel had shattered glass, broken doors, windows and furniture. The assault left more than 39 students and teachers as injured. When an ambulance arrived 9 pm, carrying two doctors and two volunteers to attend to the victims, the mob surrounded the ambulance with rods and sticks, and and prevented the doctors from helping. They broke the windows of the ambulance and injured a volunteer. “There was no need to provide medical assistance to any one on the campus”, said the attackers. The mob also punctured the tires of ambulances attending to the victims. Street lights were shut off by the authorities during the incident. The mob roamed around the campus freely without any police intervention.  students of the campus alleged the police of intentional inaction. The videos of the incident showed, students were beaten by the attackers, while the police officers were seen doing nothing. While the students escaped from the gate, the Police police officers asked them to shout “Hail Mother India.” The students accused the police of intentional inaction and being complicit with the attackers.

Protests spread across India over new citizenship law

Protests over a new Indian citizenship law based on religion spread to student campuses after at least 100 people were wounded in weekend clashes with police at a major university in New Delhi. The Citizenship Amendment Act protests of 2019 in India, or the CAA protests known previously as the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill protests, or the CAB protests are a series of ongoing protests in India against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act of 12 December 2019. The protests began in Assam, Delhi,  Meghalaya, Manipur and Tripura on 4 December 2019, and spread to the other parts of India. The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill was cleared by the Union cabinet on 4 December 2019, and passed by both houses of the Parliament on 11 December turning the bill into an Act of the Parliament.

The protests started in Assam on 4 December 2019, after the bill was passed in parliament. Later, protests erupted in all of Northeast India, and subsequently all the major cities of India. On 15 December, police forcefully entered the campus of Jamia Millia Islamia, where protests were being held. Police used batons and tear gas on the students. More than two hundred students were injured and around hundred students were detained overnight in the Police station. The police brutality was widely criticized, and resulted in protests across the country as a response. The protests have resulted in more than a thousand arrests and six deaths. Two boys under the age of 18 were among those reported to have killed due to police firing in Assam. The Act has been criticized and termed unconstitutional by several lawyers such as Soli Sorabjee, Markandey Katju, P Chidambaram, Abhishek M Singhvi, Ashish Goel, and Suhrith Parthasarathy. Several organisations have petitioned the Supreme Court of India to declare the bill illegal.

The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 (CAA) is an act of the Indian parliament amending the Citizenship Act of 1955 to give a path to Indian citizenship to illegal migrants who are Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan, who entered India on or before 31 December 2014. The Act does not mention Muslims and does not offer the same eligibility benefits to the Muslim migrants. It also seeks to relax the requirement of residence in India for citizenship by naturalisation from 11 years to 5 years for these migrants. The Parliamentary opposition claims that the CAA ringfences Muslim identity by declaring India a welcome refuge to all other religious communities, that it seeks to legally establish Muslims as second-class citizens of India by providing preferential treatment to other groups and therefore violates Article 14 of the Indian Constitution which guarantees the fundamental right to equality to all persons.

Critics of the Act have stated that due to the National Register of Citizens (NRC), Muslims could be made stateless while the CAA would be able to shield people with Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi or Christian identity as a means of providing them with Indian citizenship if they failed to prove that they were citizens of India under the stringent requirements of the NRC. Some critics allege that it is a deliberate attempt at disenfranchising Muslims in line with the Hindutva ideology of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. The home minister Amit Shah had previously set a deadline for the implementation of a countrywide NRC by stating that the exercise would be rolled out before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

The passage of the Act caused protests in India. Both Muslim and secular groups have protested, alleging religious discrimination. The people of Assam and other northeastern states continue to protest fearing that illegal immigrants from Bangladesh in their regions would be allowed to stay, as many migrants from Bangladesh are Bengali Hindus. The Act directly challenges clause 5 of 1985 Assam Accord. The Act was criticized by liberal organizations across the country, with the Indian National Congress and other major political parties opposing it. The states of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Punjab and Kerala have refused to implement it. Indian Union Muslim League petitioned the Supreme Court of India to declare the bill illegal.