Foreign elements are egging on the protestors: Reddy

Union Minister of State for Home G Kishan Reddy on Monday said political parties that were allegedly instigating violence in the national capital over the amended Citizenship Act should refrain from doing so and asked people to maintain peace.

Reddy also said the newly enacted law is not against any religion and made it clear that damaging private and public property was totally wrong.

"We are worried about whatever has happened in Jamia Milia University. The Citizenship (Amendment) Act is not against any religion. I would like to request everyone to maintain peace as damaging public property is not good," he told reporters here.

The minister said violence should never take place in the national capital and whichever political party is behind this should refrain from it.

"On one hand we are celebrating the 150th year of Mahatma Gandhi and on the other hand, people are inciting violence. Damaging private and public property is totally wrong. Protests should be peaceful," he said.

The minister pleaded ignorance about any alleged atrocities by police against students of the university on Sunday.

"I have not seen any such video so far. But I believe some foreign elements are egging on the protestors," he said when asked about the video of alleged police assaults on students at Jamia," he said.

Protesters torched four public buses and two police vehicles as they clashed with police in New Friends' Colony near Jamia Millia Islamia during a demonstration against the amended Citizenship Act on Sunday, leaving nearly 60 people including students, cops and firefighters injured.

On Monday, a group of Jamia Millia students stood shirtless in the bone-chilling cold outside the university gates and formed a human chain to protest the police action against their colleagues a day earlier.

Slogans of "Inquilab Zindabad" rent the air as the group of around 10 students, accompanied by their fellow colleagues, took out a small march, demanding a CBI inquiry into the "police brutality"