Agitators unwilling to vacate Shaheen Bagh protest site

Supporters and activists of Peace Party take part in a protest rally against the government's Citizenship (Amendment) Act and the National Register of Citizens, in New Delhi. Pic/ AFP

New Delhi: Protesters at Shaheen Bagh on Tuesday welcomed the intervention of the Supreme Court in the ongoing protests and said that they are ready to talk to government interlocutors appointed to discuss with them their concerns on the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), the National Population Register (NPR) and the proposed nationwide Register of Citizens (NRC).

However, protesters said they were not ready to vacate the site of the protests. Talking to ANI, a woman said, "We welcome the SC appointed mediators. We will discuss this with them and tell them our concerns. We will not move from here until our demands are fulfilled. We want the CAA to be repealed."

Joginder Singh, another protester said, "We are not blocking the roads, protesting is not illegal. We want the government to give it in writing that they will repeal CAA and that there will be no NPR and NRC". On Monday, hearing a PIL, the SC had appointed senior lawyers Sanjay Hegde, Sadhna Ramachandran and former Chief Information Commissioner Wajahat Habibullah to talk to protesters at Shaheen Bagh and persuade them to move their agitation to another venue.

HC restrains agitation
The Madras High Court on Tuesday restrained a body of Muslim outfits from going ahead with its proposed agitation to lay siege to the Tamil Nadu Assembly pressing their demand for a House resolution against CAA, NRC and NPR. A bench of Justices M Sathyanaraya and R Hemalatha granted the interim injunction till March 11, restraining the the Federation of Tamil Nadu Islamic and Political Organisations and its allied associations from organising the agitation, proposed for Wednesday.

Passing the interim order on a PIL, the bench posted the matter to March 12 for further hearing. The court made it clear that it was not expressing any opinion on the CAA, NRC or the NPR.

'Instigator' Imam

A Delhi court Tuesday sent Sharjeel Imam, named as an "instigator" by Delhi police in its charge sheet on violent protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act at New Friends Colony last year, to judicial custody till March 3. The charge sheet was filed before Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Gurmohina Kaur, naming Imam as an instigator of the violence. They said they attached CCTV footage, call detail records and statements of over 100 witnesses as evidence.

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