RIVANCH

Lucknow: A police post was torched in Kanpur on Saturday amid fresh incidents of anti-citizenship protests in Uttar Pradesh's several districts including in Rampur and Aligarh as the toll in the violence in the last two days rose to 15. Over 260 policemen were also injured, of whom 57 received gunshot wounds, IG (Law and Order) Praveen Kumar told PTI on Saturday. "Women and children were used as shields by the protestors," Director General of Police OP Singh said, maintaining that the police did not open fire. "All the deaths that took place have been in cross-firing and this will become clear in postmortem examination," the DGP told reporters. "We are clear and transparent in this. If anyone died due to our fire we will conduct a judicial inquiry and take action. But nothing happened from our side," the DGP stressed. Police had no option but to resort to lathi-charge to chase them away, he said, adding that tear gas shells were used for disper...

Fifteen people who were arrested in connection with the violence in Daryaganj in Old Delhi during a protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act have been remanded to judicial custody for two days. Their bail pleas will be heard at 12 pm Monday. This, even as lawyers claimed that several more were detained at Daryaganj, Paharganj, Seemapuri and Tis Hazari police stations but the police has refused to share how many people were detained. Ali Zia Kabir Choudhary, a lawyer, said that the police has neither shared the list of those arrested, nor have they shared the copies of FIRs. Despite repeated attempts by Firstpost, the Delhi Police declined to comment, saying only that their public statement is out in the media. Police personnel walks past a charred vehicle allegedly torched by protesters during a rally against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), in New Delhi. PTI Choudhary suspects some of the protesters are  badly injured, which is why the police have not...

Even though the stones strewn across the streets in Delhi's Seelampur have been cleared and daily life has returned in the busy trading area of the National Capital, the anxiety over the law and order situation that took the locality hostage on Tuesday is still palpable. Throngs of people scattered on the streets and tea shops can be overheard talking excitedly on the incident. The word pattharbaazi (Hindi for stone-pelting) shoots out of them every now and then. Yet, on Friday a rally went from Seelampur to Jama Masjid with anti-NRC and anti-CAA placards. Thousands of people participated in the rally spontaneously registering their protest against the contentious Citizenship Amendment Act and the fear of losing citizenship lurking among the Muslims in the area. This happened two days after a violent clash broke out between the security forces and the protesters. On Tuesday protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act rocked the Seelampur locality in Delhi with a magnitude o...

Pune : NCP president Sharad Pawar slammed the NDA government on Saturday, saying the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and the proposed National Register of Citizens were "ploys to divert" attention from serious issues plaguing the country. File image of NCP chief Sharad Pawar. PTI "CAA and NRC are ploys to divert people's attention from serious issues that the country is facing," he told reporters. "Not just minorities, but those who care for the country's unity and progress are opposing CAA and NRC. The new citizenship law will disturb and hurt religious and social unity and harmony of the country," he said. He questioned why only migrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan will be given citizenship under the amended law and not the Sri Lankan Tamils. Eight states, including Bihar, ruled by an NDA ally, have refused to implement the law and Maharashtra should also take a similar stand, Pawar said in response to a query. Follow LIVE update...

New Delhi : External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar will embark on a two-day visit to Iran from Sunday, where he will co-chair the 19th Joint Commission Meeting with his Iranian counterpart, Javed Zarif. File image of S Jaishankar. ANI Jaishankar is also expected to call upon Iranian president Hassan Rouhani, the external affairs ministry said in a statement on Saturday. The meeting comes days after the US provided a rare exemption to India from sanctions on the Chabahar port in Iran as Washington said it recognised that the strategic project was a lifeline for war-torn Afghanistan to get humanitarian supplies from India. The Chabahar port, jointly being developed by India, Iran, and Afghanistan, is considered a gateway to golden opportunities for trade with central Asian nations by the three countries. It is located on the Indian Ocean in the Sistan and Baluchestan province of Iran. Jaishankar will also be visiting Oman from 23 to 25 December at the invitation of Omani fore...

Mangaluru : Communist Party of India (CPI) Rajya Sabha MP from Kerala Binoy Viswam and some party activists who staged a protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) on Saturday defying curfew, were detained, police said. The protesters raised 'Save India, Save Democracy' slogans and criticised the Yediyurappa government for its actions against those protesting against the new law. Six protesters including Binoy Viswam were detained, police said. Meanwhile, police have restricted the entry of former chief minister Siddaramaiah to the city, which was rocked by violent protests against the CAA leaving two dead in police firing, during the period when curfew is in place. City police commissioner PS Harsha has served notice on Siddaramaiah restraining the latter from entering the city limits till Sunday midnight, police said. The notice bars Siddaramaiah from flying into the city from Bengaluru, Hubballi, Mysuru, and Goa airports. His entry through road, rail, and air ha...

The debate over Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the issue of National Register of Citizens (NRC) has been raging for over two weeks now, but there is still dearth of legal scholarship on the constitutionality or unconstitutionality of the CAA and the proposed national NRC. By their very nature, legal and constitutional questions, have to be decided by particular pedagogy, which at times needs to be decluttered from the historical, political and social questions. The judiciary in India has read the power of Constitutional Review under Article 13 of the Constitution of India by which it has the power to strike down the Parliamentary Laws, if they violate Part III (this is the part which contains Fundamental Rights) of the Constitution. Therefore, if the CAA is unconstitutional, it has to violate some provision of the Part III. Article 14 - Right to Equality, forms a constituent of Part III. Whether Article 14 is violated or not becomes the central question to determine the constitu...