Around 150-200 people gathered on the footsteps of the Victorian Parliament on Sunday noon to voice their protest against the police brutality on students protesting against the new citizenship law (Citizenship Amendment Act) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC).
The Jamia Millia Islamia and Aligarh Muslim University alumni gathered in large numbers to condemn police action on protesting students.
Nazish Fatima, alumni of Jamia said, “This totally goes against the spirit of democracy and human rights and we are deeply anguished by all this and can only term this action by the government as barbaric.”
“India being a democratic country provides its citizens the right to protest peacefully, then why this brutal assault of peaceful protesters?” questioned Dr Vikrant Kishore, a Jamia Alumni.
Another protestor Tanvi Mor said, “We stand in solidarity with the students and all citizens of India who are protesting against the discriminatory NRC and CAA.”
Source: Supplied
More than 20 people have died over ten days during protests in India.
Thousands of Indian citizens, most of them students, have taken to streets across India to protest against the new citizenship law, termed anti-muslim and unconstitutional by critics.
India passed the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) 2019 earlier this month, which fast-tracks citizenship for non-Muslim immigrants from India’s three neighbouring Muslim-majority countries of Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.
Under the new law, Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian refugees (anyone except Muslims) who entered India on or before December 31, 2014, and has lived in India for six years, can apply for Indian citizenship.
The NRC is closely linked to the CAA where the government plans to publish a nationwide register of citizens. Anyone who does not have documents to prove their Indian ancestry will be termed illegal.
Many Muslim citizens fear with CAA, those who belong to faiths other than Muslims will be granted citizenship, leaving them at the risk of being made stateless.
The protestors in Melbourne have called it marginalisation of the Muslim community of India and have called for its withdrawal.
Source: Supplied
“We vociferously declare our support for the fight against this immoral and unconstitutional law and call for its immediate withdrawal/abrogation,” Dr Bilal Mir, a Jamia Alumni said.
“We also demand an investigation of police brutality and transgression against the protesters.”
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New citizenship law: Indian community holds protest in Melbourne
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'Some groups are spreading rumours': Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said the new law does not affect the Muslim population of India.
"The law does not impact 1.3 billion Indians, and I must assure Muslim citizens of India that this law will not change anything for them," Indian PM Modi said.
