Anti CAA Protest – Section 144 Imposed, Heavy Police Deployed At Shaheen Bagh

On the 1st of March, the citizens of Delhi called for a march at Shaheen Bagh, against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act [CAA,] 2019.

However, the march was called off later, after the Delhi police imposed Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC,) restricting any public gathering or protests at Shaheen Bagh.   

Though the march was cancelled due to the Delhi police’s  restriction orders, they also deployed heavy force of police personnel as a precautionary measure.

R.P. Meena, the Deputy Commissioner of Southeast Delhi Police, said, “The proposed protest call was cancelled with timely intervention.  But as a precautionary measure, we have made heavy police deployment here.”

The Delhi police deployed heavy force after a group of people belonging to the right-wing group, Hindu Sena, asked to clear Shaheen Bagh.

The Hindu Sena even called for a protest against the Shaheen Bagh agitation.  However, after the Delhi police persuaded them, the group also called off their proposed protest.

Shaheen Bagh has been a protest site since the past 2 months, for people protesting against the CAA, which provides citizenship to refugees persecuted in neighbouring Islamic countries.     CAA provides citizenship to religious refugees from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh, who have been residing in India since or before the 31st of December 2014. The six communities which are eligible under the Act are the Hindus, the Sikhs, the Christians, the Parsis, the Jains and the Budhists.

The reason citizens of Delhi are staging protestes is because, the Act excludes Muslims and said to be an anti Muslim Act.

The protestors are demanding the withdrawal of the CAA, as it violates the secular India idea of the Indian constitution.