Supreme Court asks U.P. government to reply on notices to protesters

Plea questions ‘arbitrary’ action

The Supreme Court on Friday asked the Uttar Pradesh government to explain its notices to certain persons to cough up money for destruction of public property during protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act in December last year.

A Bench led by Justice D.Y. Chandrachud issued formal notice to the State government on a petition filed by Uttar Pradesh resident Parwaiz Arif Titu, who said the notices for payment of damages were “arbitrarily” sent to people. They include a person, Bannu Khan, who died six years ago at the age of 94, to two others, Fasahat Mir Khan and Sufi Ansar Hussain, both in their 90s and bedridden.

The petition said the notices were in furtherance of the “promise” made by the BJP-led Yogi Adityanath government “to avenge the loss to public property by seizing the assets of CAA-NRC protesters in order to take revenge, for political reasons, from one community who is in minority”.

“This means that 925 persons arrested so far for violent protests may not get bail easily in Uttar Pradesh till they pay up for the losses… Many of them are not involved in violent protests,” the petition said.

Notices clearly show that the persons to whom they were sent had not been booked for any offence. “There is no detail of any crime committed by them,” the petition said.