Uttar Pradesh: Yogi govt backs down; protesting women vacate road in Aligarh     

Hundreds of women protesting against the new Citizenship (Amendment) law on Sunday vacated the road they had been occupying for a week in Aligarh, only when Yogi government, while taking a step back gave some key concessions, according to a report by The Telegraph.

Only after meeting police, eminent residents, clerics and BJP and Samajwadi Party politicians on Saturday, the women vacated the Quarsi Road Bypass and returned to Shah Jamal Idgah, their original protesting site.

According to The Telegraph, in a back down, the government has agreed to provide ₹2 lakh as compensation to Mohammad Tariq, 25, who had suffered a gunshot injury during a clash between the protesters and the police on February 23.

The climb down also includes that the police will not harass any protesters without proper evidence of their direct involvement in any violence.

The Telegraph quoted Yogi Adityanath on Friday as saying, no compensation would be given for deaths or injuries suffered by the citizenship protesters.

“We are giving ₹2 lakh to Tariq for his treatment,” Aligarh district magistrate Chandra Bhushan Singh said on Sunday.

The protesters were demonstrating against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) at idgah from Januaryt 30, 2020. They were agitated when the police reportedly charged lathis on them on February 22, 23 and 24.

This evoked the protesters to block the Quarsi Road Bypass, and many other sites since February 24.

Tariq was shot at during a clash nearby on February 23, the protesters alleging police firing and the police blaming “armed criminals” who had “infiltrated” the protest, according to the report by The Telegraph.