India citizenship act: UP govt starts process to seize property of protesters
District magistrate in Lucknow, Abhishek Prakash, has set up a four-member panel that will assess damage to public and private property in violence during the protests against India’s controversial citizenship law.
The panel will identify the trouble makers and impose fine on them and if they fail to pay the amount, their properties will be confiscated, reports news agency IANS.
This order is based on a 2010 Allahabad High Court verdict that allows the government to recover the losses from those who caused it.
Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath had said on Thursday that those involved in the violence will have to pay for the damage to public properties. "We will attach their properties because many faces had been identified through the video footage," he had said.
The order issued by the district magistrate on Saturday night said that additional district magistrate (ADM) (East), ADM West, ADM Trans-Gomti and ADM administration would be a part of the committee that will assess the damage caused to property and fix the responsibility.
The committee will receive representation from those who have suffered losses and also assess damage to public property. Those responsible for the violence will be identified through CCTV footage and video recording made in different areas.
The process will be completed within 30 days.
A senior official said that this exercise would be replicated in all districts that have been hit by violence during the recent anti-CAA protests.
The district officials in Lucknow have initiated the process of identifying rioters from CCTV footage. Video recordings made by various news channels will also be obtained to identity the trouble makers.
Meanwhile, panic gripped several parts of the state capital on Saturday as the word spread that notices of recovery were being pasted on houses of suspected trouble makers.
In Gorakhpur, photographs of about 50 rioters were pasted at various intersections with a 'wanted' message.