ETAWAH: The police in Muslim-dominated area in Uttar Pradesh’s Etawah district chased and caned women protesters who had started a dharna against the citizenship law.
A video clip that has gone viral on the social media on Wednesday, shows policemen chasing women, caning them and also barging into shops to force their closure.
In a 17-second clip, the women can be heard shouting and screaming and asking the chasing police why they are being assaulted them into the narrow lane of Pachraha area.
The police is also seen lathi-charging men who had gathered in the area.
In another video, cops are seen entering a roadside eatery and hitting the employees inside and forcing its closure. Cops are further seen hitting a roadside vendor and asking him to shut shop. A cop is also heard abusing protesters.
According to reports, the protest had taken place in Pachraha on Tuesday with about 150 women sitting on dharna. The numbers swelled by evening and more than 500 women were present when the police crackdown began.
Meanwhile, the Etawah police refuting the allegations said in a tweet that the protesters had first pelted stones at the cops.
The sit-in was organised in solidarity with women protesting at Shaheen Bagh.
Lucknow has been the epicentre of protests in Uttar Pradesh.
Addressing a pro-CAA rally on Tuesday in Lucknow, Union Home Minister Amit Shah had said that the citizenship law would not be withdrawn come what may.
Protests broke out in different parts of the country against and in support of CAA which excluding Muslims, grants citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Parsis, Buddhists and Christians fleeing religious persecution from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh and who came to India on or before December 31, 2014.
Critics of the law, among whom are students, activists, politicians, women and a number of celebrities, say the CAA, along with the National Register of Citizens, the other controversial process meant to flush out illegal migrants, would be used to target Muslims.