Varanasi: Amid tensions across the country over Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), with 18 deaths in Uttar Pradesh alone, the state has arrested around 879 people and booked 21,500 people in 15 FIRs lodged at various police stations, as per official figures dated 24th December.
One and half-year-old Champak’s parents are two among hundreds apprehended and sent behind the bars for protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
‘Champak is oblivious of the whereabouts of her parents, Ekta Shekhar and Ravi Shekhar,’ said one and half-year-old toddler’s aunt Debadrita, in her house in Mahmoorganj area. Both social activists, Champak’s parents are presently lodged in the Varanasi jail after their arrest along with 67 others on December 19 during the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act protests.
Debadrita and Shashikant, elder brother of Ravi Shekhar, are taking care of baby Arya, who is fondly called Champak, in their absence.
“Champak is a breastfeeding baby. She has just completed one and a half years. She misses her parents and looks for them. Champak is very close to me because whenever Ekta and Ravi go out, I look after her. Ever since they have been arrested, we are looking after Champak,” Debadrita says.
“We offer her milk, biscuits and play with her. We also take her out in the evening so that she could play with other children.”
“Her ‘Buaa’ Shubhangi plays with her and takes her out in the park. When she watches a picture of her parents on mobile, she looks at us as if she were asking where Mamma is,” he says.
Shashikant says they have filed a petition for bail for Champak’s parents, which will be heard on January 1 in a local court.
Champak’s separation from her parents came to light after Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra tweeted about the child on Tuesday.
“Several students, Gandhians, Ambedkarwadis, and social activists were protesting peacefully against the CAA in Varanasi recently. Police has sent them all to jail. A one-year child is alone at home. Such harsh punishment for peaceful protest! This behavior of the government has gone beyond limits,” said Priyanka in one of her tweets criticizing Uttar Pradesh government’s crackdown on anti-CAA protests.
At least 18 people, including an eight-year-old boy who died in a stampede in Varanasi, have been killed across Uttar Pradesh since December 19.