Amid the ongoing protests over contentious Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), an Aligarh Muslim University student identified as Hamza Hussain while on way back to home in Lucknow, was booked on charges of attempt to murder along with 33 others for his alleged role in Thursday’s massive protests in Lucknow.
If reports are to be believed, the 20-year-old first year mechanical engineering student claimed he was returning home after the university administration announced early winter break following the violence on the campus on December 15. He claimed of not being part of any protest, yet picked up from a restaurant where he was having tea in the state capital.
Leading publication TOI quoted Hamza’s father Firoz Husain as saying “My son was not only physically tortured but is being mentally harassed by the police. He just started his studies in the university and now he is in the category of criminals. Police charged him under 18 sections of IPC without his fault.”
However, Lucknow’s additional SP (East) Suresh Chandra Rawat denied allegations saying that all the accused were arrested from the spot where the violence took place and they have enough evidence to prove that.
Eighteen people have died in the state, many of them from bullet injuries, but the state police has maintained that it has not fired a single bullet at protesters anywhere.
The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, for the first time, makes religion the test of citizenship in India. The government says it will help minorities from three Muslim-dominated countries to get citizenship if they come to India because of religious persecution.
