Anti-CAA protesters scuffle with cops as march from Jamia to Parliament stopped

New Delhi, Feb. 10 (PTI): Scores of Jamia Millia students and residents of Jamia Nagar on Monday got into a scuffle with police after they were stopped from carrying an anti-CAA march towards Parliament.

The protest call was given by the Jamia Coordination Committee (JCC), an organisation of Jamia students and alumni.

Despite repeated appeals from the police and the varsity authorities, the protesters refused to end their agitation. Police said the protesters did not have permission to march towards Parliament.

Amid heavy deployment of security personnel in and around the university, the protesters, including several women, began their march from Jamia’s gate no 7.

The protesters raised slogans like “Kagaz Nahi Dikhayenge’ (We will not show documents) and “Jab Nahi Dare Hum Goron Se Toh Kyun Dare Hum Auron Se” (When we did not fear the British, why should we fear others).

Men formed a human chain on either side of roads as women walked ahead, waving the tricolour and raising slogans of “Halla Bol”.

“It has been two months since we are protesting. No one from the government has come to talk to us, so we want to go to talk to them,” said burqa-clad Zeba Anhad.

A scuffle ensued as policemen tried to stop the protesters. Many of them jumped over barricades to continue their march towards Parliament.

Jamia Millia Islamia proctor Waseem Ahmed Khan appealed to the students to disperse and not meddle with the police. “The message has been sent. I request students in the crowd to go back to the university. Respect the law and peacefully go back,” he urged the students.

The CAA allows easier citizenship for Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Christians, Parsis and Jains who came to India from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh before 2015 to escape religious persecution there.

Those opposing the CAA contend that it discriminates on the basis of religion and violates the Constitution. They also allege that the CAA along with the NRC is intended to target the Muslim community in the country.

However, the central government has dismissed the allegations, maintaining that the law is intended to give citizenship to the persecuted minorities from the three neighbouring countries and not to take away anyone’s citizenship.