As peaceful protests were organized around the country against CAA, NRIC and the NPR, the state of Uttar Pradesh stands out for the intense harshness of the state action to crush the voices of dissent. Across Uttar Pradesh, 24 deaths by police firing have been reported since the CAA came into effect.

Pattern of states response in almost all cases of gun shot deaths is the same:

Victims did not receive any medical attention in hospitals. No post-mortem reports have been given to the family. FIRs don;’t mention gunshot wounds. Families have been forced to perform hasty burials. Criminals cases have been filed against the victims.

A fact-finding team visited homes in Muzaffarnagar which were ransacked and destroyed beyond repairs. In house after house we visited in the two Muslim localities which were attacked by police on the night of December 20, – there was a pattern in destruction – the police had attacked only the most affluent houses, in each of the 4 houses we visited, everything that could be broken was thoroughly destroyed, systematically – the police pulled down kitchen cabinets breaking every piece of china, overturned groceries, smashed sinks and pulled open taps leading to flooding of the kitchens; broken bathroom fittings, wash basins, they smashed television sets, fridges, coolers, washing machines, furniture, switch boards; they upturned cupboards, and cars in all houses were vandalised and in one place upturned while police chanted Jai Shri Ram.

On 15 December, 2019, the Uttar Pradesh police virtually reduced AMU campus to a battleground. RAF and the police force attacked students with lathis, fired tear gas shells and rubber bullets and even used stun grenades in an unprecedented and brutal crackdown on peaceful student protests against the Citizen Amendment Act and NRC. Ambulances were stoned by the police and students beaten in police lockup, leaving them with fractures, welt marks, internal injuries and one student having to suffer an amputation of his right hand.

3 weeks after police brutality on the students of Jamia Millia Islamia and Aligarh Muslim University on 15 December, 2019, armed mobs laid seige on Jawahar Lal University, targeting student leaders like Aishe Ghosh and destroying property and vehicles on campus. As JNU students relayed news of the assault live via their social media accounts, civil society sprang into action only to be stopped at the main gate of the University by another mob shouting slogans against the students of JNU. In the words of Professor Ayesha Kidwai, “JNU is …JNU! Many are injured, many are traumatised by the last ten hours, but ALL are undaunted. We are completely overwhelmed by the instantaneous love and solidarity that rained down at us from all over the world…The people who fought off this mob were the young and old of Delhi, who rushed to the JNU gate from all four corners of the city. Through slogans, braving endless abuse and violence, our comrades and friends stood at the gate behind the police cordon, got the street lights turned on, as we stood determined to not let the gate be breached, as it was in AMU.”