Yogi govt action against CAA protesters: Hoardings installed with names, photos of accused in Lucknow

The Yogi Adityanath government has put up hoardings in prominent road junction in state capital Lucknow, with names, addresses and photos of those accused of violence during protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in Lucknow last year.

The individuals mentioned on the hoarding have been asked to pay compensation for vandalism of public property during the violence, in which one person lost his life. The hoardings reads if the accused fail to pay soon, their property will be attached.

It is not clear why public hoardings with names and addresses have been put up, individual property attachment notice to many of the accused have already been issued by the government. Among those mentioned in the hoardings are activist-politician Sadaf Jafar, Lawyer Mohammed Shoaib, theatre actor Deepak Kabir and former IPS officer SR Darapuri. All these individuals are out on bail and have stated that they will challenge in court any move by the government to expropriate their property.

In several bail orders, courts have indicated that the police failed to back their claims about the accused with sufficient proof to turndown bail.

In February, the Allahabad High Court deferred a similar property attachment notice furnished by the government to a man in Kanpur, for his alleged role in destruction of government property during violence over the CAA. The high court gave interim protection to the accused saying that the Supreme Court was already looking into the validity of such notices in a separate matter.

A source in the UP Chief Minister’s office stated that the hoardings in Lucknow were put up on the order of the chief minister. Earlier, Yogi Adityanath had stirred controversy with his remark about revenge.

"We will be very strict. I am monitoring this myself. We will attach the property of all those involved in the violence and many such faces are identified in videography and CCTVs. We will attach their property and take revenge against them ," the Chief Minister had said.

Extensive violence had erupted in Uttar Pradesh in December after demonstrations against the CAA turned violent. As part of a crackdown, the state poilce arrested thousands of people across violence hit districts and brought serious charges like rioting and attempted murder against them.

The police claimed that al least 60 of their officials had bullet injuries while trying to restrain mobs that were indulging in arson, firing and vandalism.

But a lot of questions have since been brought up on the police action, including how the police in many locations seem to have indulged in excesses in handling the state of affair.

In January, a court in Uttar Pradesh’s Bijnor granted bail to 48 people accused by the state police of rioting and attempted murder during December violence. The judge made some severely critical observations against police probes in the case. In his bail order, the judge stated, "The police FIR says the mob fired at the cops, but no evidence has been presented in court to show any recovery of weapons. The government lawyers have failed to produce any evidence in court that shows that anyone part of the mob fired at the police."

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