Decision on internet suspension in Mathura on Thursday: DM

A decision on whether to suspend internet services in Mathura district would be taken after a meeting of administration and police officials here on Thursday, officials said on Wednesday.

The clarification came after an official order was circulated on social media, stating the internet services will be suspended from 6 am on Thursday till 6 pm on Friday amid anti-citizenship law protests in Uttar Pradesh and elsewhere in the county.

"That order has been revised and any such decision to suspend internet services will be taken after a meeting of top officials here tomorrow," District Magistrate Sarvagya Ram Mishra told PTI.

Mishra said the situation in Mathura has been normal but preventing disorder would be a "top priority" for the administration.

Official sources, however, told PTI that several districts, including Mathura, could suspend internet services ahead of Friday as a preventive measure in view of violent protests over the controversial law.

Protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act had broken out in several districts of Uttar Pradesh on Thursday leaving at least 17 people dead and moveable and immoveable assets damaged, mostly in arson.

Along with UP, several parts of the country have been witnessing protests against the amended Citizenship Act and the proposed implementation of a pan-India National Register of Citizens (NRC).

The Citizenship (Amendment) Act allows granting citizenship to persecuted minorities -- Hindus, Sikhs, Christians, Jain, Buddhists and Parsis from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh -- who have taken refuge in India before December 31, 2014.

Critics say that by leaving Muslims out of the ambit of the law, it violates the Fundamental Right to Equality under Article 14 of the Constitution and is against the secular ethos of the country.