Issued shoot at sight orders for those destroying public property: Junior Railway Minister
New Delhi/IBNS: Four days after people protesting the Citizenship Amendment Act ransacked railway stations, ticket booking centres and set them on fire in Bengal's Murshidabad and other areas, Union Minister Suresh Angadi said he has issued shoot at sight order to the concerned authorities against such acts of violence.
Speaking to news agency ANI, Union Minister of State for Railways said: "I have told the district administration and railway authorities concerned that if anybody destroys public property, they can be shot at sight. I am giving this directive as a Union Minister."
He said such acts cannot be tolerated as the protesters are destroying public properties built with taxpayers money over several years.
The controversial statement comes amid nationwide protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act which will grant citizenship to all non-Muslim refugees who came to India from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan on or before Dec 31, 2014.
Following the passage of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019, by both the houses of Parliament, violent protests were witnessed by the north-eastern states, particularly Assam and Tripura, with the agitators setting buses on fire and blocking roads.
Soon the protests reached the eastern state of West Bengal where agitators in the name of agitation set buses, trains on fire, ransacked railway station, damaged railway properties.
The protests turned violent even in Delhi on Sunday evening when several vehicles were set on fire following the agitation of the students of Delhi's Jamia Millia University. Reacting to the development, police had entered the university campus and assaulted various students sparking outrage across the country.
However, it is yet to be proven whether the students had set the vehicles on fire.
Police had also beaten Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) students in Uttar Pradesh after they were seen protesting against the assault on Jamia students.
Image wikimedia:commons
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