Citizenship Act stir: Yogi Adityanath government starts process to seize property of rioters.

Source – newindianexpress.com

LUCKNOW: The Lucknow district magistrate Abhishek Prakash has set up a four-member panel that will assess damage to public and private property during the violence in anti-CAA protests.

The panel will identify the trouble makers and impose fine on them and if they fail to pay the amount, their properties will be confiscated.

This order is based on a 2010 Allahabad High Court verdict that allows the government to recover the losses from those who caused it.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had said on Thursday that those involved in the violence will have to pay for the damage to public properties. “We will attach their properties because many faces had been identified through the video footage,” he had said.

The order issued by the district magistrate on Saturday night said that additional district magistrate (ADM) (East), ADM West, ADM Trans-Gomti and ADM administration would be a part of the committee that will assess the damage caused to property and fix the responsibility.

The committee will receive representation from those who have suffered losses and also assess damage to public property. Those responsible for the violence will be identified through CCTV footage and a video recording made in different areas.

The process will be completed within 30 days.

A senior official said that this exercise would be replicated in all districts that have been hit by violence during the recent anti-CAA protests.

The district officials in Lucknow have initiated the process of identifying rioters from CCTV footage. Video recordings made by various news channels will also be obtained to identify the trouble makers.

Meanwhile, panic gripped several parts of the state capital on Saturday as the word spread that notices of recovery were being pasted on houses of suspected trouble makers.

In Gorakhpur, photographs of about 50 rioters were pasted at various intersections with a ‘wanted’ message.

The government has also initiated steps to check the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) campaign.

While the Governor Anandiben Patel and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath have appealed to the people to maintain peace and law and order across the state and not to fall for rumours and get misled on the new citizenship law, the district officials have also launched a campaign to dispel misinformation on the CCA.

In Etawah, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Santosh Mishra has started interacting with groups of students and explaining to them that the CAA was not designed to make them leave the country.

The SSP is informing the students that there is no law that can expel any citizen of India.

Etawah has not witnessed any anti-CAA protests and the SSP said that this was a preventive step that was being taken.

In Fatehpur, the district administration has got pamphlets printed. The pamphlet titled ‘Gumrah Na Ho’ lists the rumours about the CAA and clarifies the truth. These pamphlets are being widely distributed across the district, especially among the youth belonging to the minority community.

“The district administrations have been asked to dispel misinformation on the issue and do it in whatever way they feel is best,” said a senior official in the Chief Minister’s Secretariat.