CAA protests: Vadodara cops to recover compensation for damage

Compensation will be recovered from miscreants who damaged police vehicles during an anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) protest in Hathikhana area here last month, the police said on Wednesday.

Vadodara police commissioner Anupam Singh Gehlot said the police had assessed the damage caused to the vehicles in stone-pelting on December 20.

The damage was estimated at Rs 40,000, he said, adding that the police will approach a court with a request to recover a compensation from the rioters, he said.

The police are relying on the Supreme Court's 2018 order about how to fix liability and recover compensation for damage caused to public and private properties during violence in a case of Kodungallur Film Society, he said.

"This order had helped Surat police recover compensation from from rioters," Gehlot said.

For Vadodara police, it would be the first instance of moving a court to seek compensation from rioters, he added.

So far, the police have arrested 40 people in connection with violence during anti-CAA protests on December 20.

One police official was injured during the stone- pelting and a few police vehicles were damaged.

The police lobbed ten teargas shells and fired two rounds in the air to control the mob.

Four of the "main accused" were arrested on Tuesday, three of them from Ahmedabad, Chaklasi and Godhra, officials had said.