'No politics, religion' over law and order, says Bulandshahr DM after Muslims pay for damages

A section of Muslims from the civil society handed over a demand draft of Rs 6.27 lakh to the Bulandshahr district administration to compensate for damage to public property during violent protests over the citizenship law in Uttar Pradesh.

Handing over the demand draft to officials on Friday, they also requested the police and the administration to withdraw cases lodged against community members in the aftermath of the protests on December 20, when violence had also swept several other parts of the state over the contentious law.

"It is a welcome initiative by the people here who have realized that the property which got damaged during the violence belonged to them and involved their own tax money. Loss to public property means loss to citizen's property," Bulandshahr District Magistrate Ravindra Kumar told reporters.

Rs 6,27,507, the amount of damage assessed by the administration, has been raised by donations within the community, Haji Akram, a local councilor, said. A police vehicle along with a wireless communication set and one more separate communication set were destroyed during the violence on December 20, said DM Kumar. Three FIRs were registered and 12 people arrested, while several others 'unknown' booked for violence, he said.

"There was no need for us to send the notices because the community members had approached us with the proposal to compensate for the losses," he said. On their request for withdrawal of cases against Muslim protestors, the DM said, "There will be no involvement of politics or religion in the case. I have assured them that no innocent will face any problem. Rest is for the police to probe."

Around 20 people have died and several others, including policemen, injured in UP since protests unfolded in the state and elsewhere in the country against the amended Citizenship Act and the proposed implementation of a pan-India National Register of Citizens (NRC). 

The CAA provides for grant of citizenship to persecuted minority Hindus, Sikhs, Christians, Jain, Buddhists and Parsis of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, who have taken refuge in India before December 31, 2014. Critics say by leaving Muslims out of the ambit of the law, it violates the Fundamental Right to Equality under Article 14 of the Constitution and is against the secular ethos of India.