The death toll of those killed in protests against the newly passed amended Citizenship Act has risen to 15 in the BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh. This was after 13 fresh new killings were reported from Meerut, Firozabad, Bijnor, Sambhal, Kanpur, Varanasi and Lucknow. According to fresh reports, four people are reported to have been killed in Meerut, two each in Firozabad and Bijnor and one each in Lucknow, Kanpur, Varanasi and Sambhal.
Statewide protests had broken out in at least thirteen districts across Uttar Pradesh against the amended citizenship act on Friday. There were several reports of police brutality against peaceful protesters. Many questioned why protesters were being brutally targeted by police only in BJP-ruled states.
Earlier one protester was killed in Lucknow on the first day when protests were staged last week. The same day, two protesters were killed in Mangaluru, a key city in another BJP-ruled Karnataka.
Meanwhile, an audio clip of Bijnor SP Sanjeev Tyagi has gone viral on social media. In the audio clip, the voice, believed to be of Tyagi’s, is heard directing police force at the local level to break the hands and legs of protesters to set an example for others.
Janta Ka Reporter reached out to Tyagi for his reaction. But he refused to either confirm or deny that the voice in the audio was his. He said before abruptly hanging up the phone, “We have no idea about this. I don’t know if the voice in the audio is mine or someone else’s. I haven’t heard the audio, so I don’t know what’s there in it. Neither has anyone said anything to me about it.”
You can hear the audio below.