Women protesters vacate anti-CAA protest site in Aligarh

ALIGARH: Scores of women who were holding a protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act on the Jiwangarh bypass road here for the past six days vacated the site in the presence of top district officials.

Barricades which were put up on the road in view of the protest were removed on Saturday night and traffic resumed, bringing relief to commuters.

Senior Superintendent of Police Muniraj said the protesters handed over a five-point memorandum to the district magistrate, which among other points sought withdrawal of cases filed against people protesting at Jiwangarh and the Aligarh Muslim University.

The district officials with the help of political and community leaders assured the protesters that they would discuss their demands with the state government.

District Magistrate Chandra Bhushan Singh announced that one of the demands of the protesters to grant financial assistance to a youth, who was seriously injured in last Sunday's violence in Upper Kot area, has already been accepted.

Tariq Munawwar, who had sustained gunshot injuries in the violence, has been given a financial assistance of Rs two lakh.

Munawwar, whose lower part of the body has paralysed, will be provided free medical treatment at the Jawahar Lal Nehru Hospital.

Agra zone ADG Ajay Anand, who had earlier initiated a dialogue with the women protesters at Jiwangarh, said, "We had impressed upon the women protesters that since an anti-CAA protest by women was already taking place at the Eidgah grounds for more than a month now, they can join them and continue their protest there instead of blocking traffic on the bypass road, provided the protest is peaceful."

For the last five weeks, a large number of women have been protesting inside the Eidgah complex against the amended citizenship law.