Women protesting against CAA at Park Circus appeal to CM for police security arrangements
Kolkata: Women protesting against Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) at Park Circus Maidan on Friday sought strict police security arrangements from the state government, especially during night, a day after an arm-wielding man opened fire at protesters near Jamia Millia Islamia University in the national capital.
"We appeal to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to give us police security with lady police officers at our protest venue (Park Circus Maidan)," said 45-year-old homemaker Asmat Jamil, organiser of the ongoing 'Swadhinata Andolan 2.0' (Freedom movement 2.0) at Park Circus Maidan.
It might be mentioned that a sit-in agitation by 60 Muslim women at the Park Circus Maidan, christened as 'Kolkata's Shaheen Bagh', entered its 25th day on Friday.
"On January 7, the first day of our protest at Park Circus, the police asked us to vacate the area. We urged them to let us continue our agitation, after which they agreed. We met Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on January 15. She provided us bio-toilet facility and policemen at Park Circus Maidan. We urge her to provide us lady police officers during night for security reasons," pointed out Asmat.
The controversial act, which was passed by both Houses of Parliament in December, seeks to provide Indian citizenship to non-Muslim refugees coming from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan after facing religious persecution there.
On Thursday, a man brandished a country-made pistol and opened fire, injuring a student of Jamia Millia who was protesting against CAA. The firing took place despite heavy police presence in the area.
Vice-Chancellor of Jamia Millia Islamia Najma Akhtar visited AIIMS Trauma Centre to enquire about the health of injured student Shadab Farooq.
Meanwhile Sudeshna Duttagupta, a student of Sanskrit University and a protester at an anti-CAA rally in the city, was allegedly heckled and verbally abused by BJP men on Thursday. "West Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh, the goon of the saffron party, justified the heckling of the woman saying that his party men did the right thing. She should thank her stars that she was only heckled and nothing else was done to her. He should have been arrested immediately," said Barnali Mukherjee, a protester at the Park Circus Maidan.
