In a shocking video that is doing rounds on social media, police personnel in Mangaluru are seen questioning each other, why no protestor was killed, even after firing at them.
The clipping of the video was shared by Mahila Congress’ National Social Media Coordinator Lavanya Ballal on Friday, causing a widespread uproar.
“Listen to what the cops are saying . “Even after firing, not a single shot hit anyone, no one died”. #KarnatakaRejectsCAA_NRC,” Ballal tweeted and tagged the Karnataka State Home Department, asking for action against the cop.
Expressing outrage at the incident, Indian Youth Congress in-charge Srivatsa, tweeted alleging the cops “were shooting with the intention to kill?”
At least two people were killed in police firing in Mangaluru on Thursday during the ongoing nationwide protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the draconian NRC.
The Home Department of Karnataka has imposed a suspension on mobile internet services by all mobile providers in Mangaluru and Dakshina Kannada district for 48 hours, and curfew has been imposed in parts of the city until midnight on Saturday (December 21).
Anti Citizenship Act (CAA) demonstrators across India are carrying out peaceful protests as anger swells against the highly sectarian and anti-Constitutional law. However, the BJP-ruled Karnataka government on Wednesday evening clamped prohibitory orders under Section 144 in Mangaluru and other parts of the state starting from 6 am on Thursday till the mid-night of December 21.
On Thursday, over 6,000 people gathered at various parts of Mangaluru defying prohibitory orders to protest against CAA. Videos from the violence-affected area show police personnel firing at the protestors and using tear gas and brute force to disperse the crowd.
Two people, Jaleel Kudroli (49) and Nausheen Bengre (23) were killed in the police firing.
According to the Citizenship Amendment Act, members of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities who have come from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan till December 31, 2014, and facing religious persecution there will not be treated as illegal immigrants but given Indian citizenship. The Act intentionally leaves out Muslims.
The BJP-led government has said the new law will be followed by a National Register of Citizens (NRC) that means Muslims must prove they were original residents of India and not refugees from these three countries. Non-Muslims listed in the law, by contrast, have a clear path to citizenship.
The religiously discriminatory mechanisms of the Act shares worrying similarities with the rhetoric and policies of the Nazi German state between 1929-1940.
