Fundraising campaigns initiated for helping injured protesters
New Delhi: Numerous fundraising campaigns catering towards the injured students and citizens during Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC) protests have been initiated by a concerned set of citizens. Campaigns that will also focus on the legal aid have also been initiated. After an alleged crackdown by Delhi Police in Jamia Millia Islamia campus, many students were injured, where one of them even lost an eye.
Hence, people have started raising money through an online portal to help those who have been affected due to it.
"The extensive damage to university and the violence against students and teachers has left many varsity students wounded, injured and displaced. In such times, we the undersigned students of Jamia Millia Islamia, wish to raise a campaign to ensure adequate financial aid, shelter and any other kind of help that might be needed in these times of distress of our kin," the students wrote on their campaign page. The fundraising, however, doesn't restrict itself to Jamia only. People have also started raising funds for the injured students at Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) as well.
On the other hand, money for the families of kin who died during Uttar Pradesh riots, is also being raised. Speaking to Millennium Post Irfan, a financial analyst, who lives in Bangalore and started fund raising for families in Kanpur said,
"The situation in UP needs dire attention. We need to help the people. I have talked to a few people, who are helping me in this initiative. We have as of now raised 7 lakh rupees. Our target was 5 lakh."
Money will be divided among two families, both of them had lost their sons. "I had put out the campaign on Saturday and within ten hours, we reached our target. However, people didn't stop and more people kept contributing," said Irfan. He also said that in Kanpur at least three people have lost their lives, while two are in critical condition.
"I wanted to really do something and came up with this plan to raise the money. But the fact that so many people are still reaching out and want to help shows so much," he added.
Irfan said that he will be planning more such campaigns and has been reaching out to the victim's families. "Most of them are overwhelmed as many people have reached out to them in such difficult times," he said.
A network of lawyers have also started fundraising campaign, to reach out and provide free legal aid to citizens from marginalised society, migrant labourers and poor whose "citizenship is threatened by NRC and CAA." The Indian Civil Liberties Union (ICLU) that includes lawyers, activists, paralegals and students are part of the fundraising campaign.
"The fight is to bring justice to those who are excluded and threatened by the prospect of statelessness. The money raised will be used towards providing legal aid for those affected and developing legal information modules for citizens," they said. ICLU has raised more than 10 lakh as of now.
