LUCKNOW: On the lines of Delhi's Shaheen Bagh, around 50 women along with children squatted near the Clock Tower in Lucknow's old quarters on Saturday evening protesting the amended citizenship law and the planned National Register of Citizens (NRC).
Newly appointed Lucknow Police Commissioner Sujit Pandey reached the protest site and tried to persuade the agitators to end the stir, but they refused to budge.
The indefinite protest by women at the national capital's Shaheen Bagh against the CAA and NRC has been going on for over a month now.
Congress spokesperson Sadaf Jafar, who was arrested in connection with violence during anti-CAA protests in the Uttar Pradesh capital last month and released a few days back, said, "During anti-CAA protests earlier, the police had beaten up women, children and registered cases under stringent sections of the law."
"It is now to be seen what steps the police take to oppress these women. CAA is against the country's Constitution and is also against the soul of the country," she said, and asked, "In a democratic and secular country like India, how could the government think of giving citizenship on the basis of a religion?"
One of the protestor Warish Saleem said, "The protest is on the lines of the Shaheen Bagh protests, and the stir will continue till the CAA and NRC are rolled back."
Besides Delhi, protests have unfolded in several parts of the country over the contentious law since it was passed on December 11 and have led to clashes at several places including Uttar Pradesh, where nearly 20 people have died.
According to the amended law, members of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities who have come from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan till December 31, 2014 and facing religious persecution there will not be treated as illegal immigrants but given Indian citizenship.
The law excludes Muslims.