1000-1200 booked for taking out candle march in AMU on Dec 23

Police has registered cases against as many as 1,000-1,200 unidentified persons who participated in a candle march at Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) campus on December 23 in solidarity with those who lost their lives in the anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act protest.

The cases have been registered at police station Civil Lines, Aligarh under IPC section 188 (Disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) and IPC section 341 (Punishment for wrongful restraint). Police said that the march was unauthorised as no permission was sought for the same.

On December 15, clashes broke out between police and the students protesting against the amended citizenship Act. The police fired tear gas shells outside the AMU after protestors pelted stones at them.

Since the enactment of the CAA, which grants citizenship to non-Muslim minorities including Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Parsis, Buddhists and Christians fleeing religious persecution from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh, protests have erupted in various parts of the country including the national capital.

The AMU has been shut down till January 5, 2020, in the wake of these protests.