Protests have been staged in different states nationwide after the Central government notified the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). On Tuesday (12th March), the ‘activists’ of the Fraternity Movement of India staged an anti-CAA protest in Kerala’s Kozhikode district. Following this, the police arrested 8 Muslim protestors out of the 9 booked. During the protest, the police lathi-charged around a hundred protestors outside the All India Radio (AIR) station in Kozhikode.
The accused have been identified as Fraternity Movement members Labeeb Kayakkodi (State Vice-President), Vaseem Ali (State Secretariat Member), Raees Ahammad (Kozhikode General Secretary), Aadil Ali (Kozhikode Vice-President), Nasim Abdul Latheef (Secretary, Area), and members Safin Sabeer, Hasanul Banna, and Muhammad Savad, along with Savad’s father, Anas, a member of Welfare Party of India.
The accused Fraternity Movement members have been booked under several IPC sections, including sections 147 (punishment for rioting), 143 (unlawful assembly), 283 (causing danger, obstruction or injury to any person in any public way) 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty), 332 ( voluntarily causing harm to deter a public worker from doing his duty) and 177(e) of Kerala Police Act 2011.
Notably, a case against 124 protesters belonging to the Muslim Student Federation (MSF) and Congress-affiliation National Student Union of India (NSUI) was filed by Thiruvananthapuram Museum Police under Sections 143, 145, 147, 332 and 353 on 11th March. The protesters were also planning to march to Raj Bhavan. Furthermore, the Railway Police Force (RPF) filed a case against 40 NSU(I) members for blocking the train.
As reported earlier, anti-CAA protests erupted at the Jamia Millia Islamia campus in Delhi. Muslim Students Federation (MSF) and Congress-affiliated National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) led the student protests at the campus.
Besides, around 60 to 70 students affiliated with the All India Student Association (AISA) were detained from the Delhi University Arts Faculty on 12th March over an anti-CAA protest.
In Assam, anti-CAA protests were staged by Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuba Chatra Parishad (AJYCP) and the Congress party. During the protests, effigies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah were reportedly burnt. The Congress workers burnt the copies of CAA law as a mark of protest. In addition, CPI(M) workers also lead a demonstration in Kamrup’s Rangia town.
This comes after the Modi government notified CAA on the 11th of March 2024. Under the CAA people belonging to persecuted minority groups in Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan—including Christians, Parsis, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Hindus, and Sikhs—who came to India on or before December 31, 2014, will be granted Indian citizenship.
