RAMPUR: After Shaheen Bagh in Delhi and Mansoor Ali Khan Park in Prayagraj, it is now the Jama Masjid in Rampur where women have joined the nation-wide stir against the citizenship law.
Around 200 Muslim women have assembled at the Jama Masjid here in Uttar Pradesh to protest against the police and administrative officials in this town.
The women have been at the protest venue for over 48 hours. They have raised slogans against the alleged police atrocities and demanded an immediate release of their family members and the “innocent protesters” of the anti-CAA violence on December 21 in the state.
“We are against the citizenship law and also against the district administration which has arrested innocent people who were protesting against the law. We have taken up this issue with the Imam and the clerics and now we are on this protest,” said Shaheen, a protestor.
Another protester, Soni, said: “My 20-year-old brother Rahil was arrested and sent to jail illegally by the police.”
Social activist Faisal Khan Lala said: “A list of 13 people who were booked and sent to jail had been given to SP Rampur Santosh Kumar Mishra and he had assured that innocents will be released.”
Rampur District Magistrate Aunjaneya Kumar Singh said: “A protest is going on inside the Jama Masjid. The people are still being instigated by those who were behind the December 21 violence. We have collected enough materials as well as scientific evidence.”
He further said: “When we had asked the Jama Masjid committee to send us a list of the innocent protesters, they had actually sent names of all those accused persons against whom we have evidence. The people were all involved in the crime.”
The district magistrate said: “I am working around the clock with the police and other administrative officials so that the innocent people can be released from jail.”