TMC Delegation to Visit Families of Those Killed, Injured During Anti-Citizenship Law Protests in UP

Kolkata: Amid violence during the anti-citizenship law across the country, Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee will be sending a team of senior party leaders to Uttar Pradesh to assess the ground situation where 16 people have been killed in police action.

TMC MPs Pratima Mondal, Md Nadimul Haque and Abir Biswas will be led by former railway minister Dinesh Trivedi. They are expected to reach Lucknow this afternoon and will meet the family members of the victims.

Trivedi said, “We are on way to Lucknow and from there, depending on the situation, we will move to other places, including hospitals, to meet the family members of those who were killed or injured during protests against CAA and NRC.”

Violent protests and incidents of arson were reported from different parts of the country, including Uttar Pradesh, New Delhi, Bihar, West Bengal, Karnataka, Assam, Kerala and northeastern states over the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, which seeks to grant citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Christians, Jain and Parsi community fleeing religious persecution from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh and came to India on or before December 31, 2014.

Section 144 has been imposed in various parts of the country in view of the prevailing law and order situation.

UP police has said as many as 705 persons have been arrested and 4,500 were detained for the violence during the last two days. They said 260 security personnel were injured, of whom 57 suffered gunshot wounds.

Under such situation, it is unlikely that the TMC delegates will be allowed by the UP administration to meet the family members of those who were killed or injured.