A group of Muslims handed over a demand draft of ₹6.27 lakh to the Bulandshahr district administration to compensate for damage to public property during violent protests over the Citizenship (Amendment) Act law in Uttar Pradesh earlier this month.
While handing over the demand draft to officials on Friday, they also requested the police and the administration to withdraw cases lodged against community members in the aftermath of the protests on December 20, when incidents of violence were reported from other parts of the State.
“It is a welcome initiative by the people here who have realised that the property which got damaged during the violence belonged to them and involved their own tax money. Loss to public property means loss to citizen’s property,” Bulandshahr District Magistrate Ravindra Kumar told reporters.
Raised from donations
₹6,27,507, the amount of damage assessed by the administration, has been raised by donations within the community, Haji Akram, a local councilor, said.
A police vehicle along with a wireless communication set and one more separate communication set were destroyed during the violence on December 20, said Mr. Kumar.
Three FIRs were registered and 12 people arrested, while several others ‘unknown’ were booked for violence, he said.
“There was no need for us to send the notices because the community members had approached us with the proposal to compensate for the losses,” he said.
On their request for withdrawal of cases against Muslim protesters, the DM said, “There will be no involvement of politics or religion in the case. I have assured them that no innocent will face any problem. Rest is for the police to probe.”
Nineteen persons have lost their lives and several others, including policemen, injured in Uttar Pradesh since protests broke out in the State against the CAA and the proposed implementation of a pan-India National Register of Citizens (NRC).
The CAA provides for grant of citizenship to persecuted minority Hindus, Sikhs, Christians, Jain, Buddhists and Parsis of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, who have taken refuge in India before December 31, 2014.
