Lucknow Administration Attaches Properties of Anti-CAA Protesters Who Damaged Public Property

With easing of the coronavirus lockdown, the district administration here has started attaching properties of those accused of vandalising public property during protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in December.

On Tuesday, a garment and a junk store in Hasanganj area were attached.

"FIRs were registered in four police stations and notices were served to 54 persons for recovery of damages. Of them, two properties in Hasanganj locality were attached on Tuesday. The process will continue," Tehsildar, Sadar, Shambhu Sharan Singh told PTI on Wednesday.

Maahenoor Choudhary, who owns the junk shop, and the garment store's assistant manager Dharamveer Singh are accused of damaging properties during the anti-CAA protests.

The attachments were done under the Uttar Pradesh Recovery of Damages to Public and Private property ordinance-2020 on orders passed by the additional district magistrate (Tans Gomti) Vishwa Bhushan Mishra.

The protests against the CAA and the National Register of Citizens (NRC) witnessed a violence in the city on December 19. The district administration assessed loss of crores to public property in the arsoning and brick batting.

The administration had sent recovery notices worth about Rs 1.55 crore to over 50 people for the damages allegedly done by them during the protests.

In Khadra area, 13 protesters were identified and the loss of property was estimated at Rs 21.76 lakh, while in Parivartan Chowk, 24 people were identified and the loss was estimated at Rs 69.65 lakh.

Ten people were identified in Thakurganj area and the loss was estimated around Rs 47.85 lakh. In Kaiserbagh, six protesters were identified and the loss of property was Rs 1.75 lakh.

In March, the district administration displayed on hoarding here photographs and addresses of protesters, including Congress leader Sadaf Jafar, retired IPS SR Darapuri and activist Mohammad Shoaib.

After the spread of coronavirus and a suggestion from the Allahabad High Court, the Lucknow administration on March 20 stopped all coercive actions such as the attachment of properties and arresting the protsetrs to recover the damages.