Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Friday justified his government's crackdown on protestors against the Citizenship Act and said that the police action has 'shocked' every agitator into silence.
"Every rioter is shocked. Every troublemaker is shocked. Everybody has fallen silent after seeing the strictness of the Yogi Adityanath government. The Chief Minister has announced that anybody who damages public property will have to pay up. Every violent protester will cry now because there is a Yogi government in Uttar Pradesh," read a tweet from the UP CM's office.
"People who resorted to violence and destroyed property will now have to compensate for the losses," another tweet read, terming it as a "shining example" of how violent protests should be handled.
The tweet was a reference to the UP government's decision to make protesters pay up for vandalising public property in the state during the anti-CAA stir.
At least 21 people died in violent clashes that erupted in the state after the controversial bill passed Parliament test and received the President's nod to become an act. While many of the deaths reportedly happened due to gunshot injuries, the government has denied of firing at protesters with the exception of a single instance at Bijnore, where a 20-year-old IAS aspirant died after being shot by a constable in self-defence.
Another tweet from the Uttar Pradesh CMO claimed that peace has returned to the state.
The state police on Friday said that they have identified 498 people, with as many as 148 from Meerut, who will be asked to pay up for losses incurred.
The National Human Rights Commission has issued a notice to the UP top cop over complaints of rights violations in the state during the CAA protests.
As per state police, a total of 1,246 people have been arrested in connection with the violence.
"1,246 people have been arrested in connection with the violence, while 5,558 people were detained during the anti-CAA protest," said the UP Police in a statement.
The statement added that a total of 372 FIRs were lodged in connection with the violence during the protests. It also said that the details of the action taken against the people for posting inflammatory posts on social media.
"125 people arrested for posting inciting content on social media. 95 FIRs have been registered under the IT Act. The action was also taken on 20,950 social media posts," the statement said.
(With ANI Inputs)