2 protest against Shah, get evicted from rented house

A lawyer hailing from Kerala and her friend were evicted from their rented accommodation in south Delhi after they displayed a banner and raised slogans against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) during Union Home Minister Amit Shah's door-to-door campaign last week.

Surya Rajappan, who practices in the Delhi High Court, and her friend had to leave their rented accommodation following the land lord's insistence. Soon after they raised slogans on Sunday, a group of people who were accompanying Shah shouted 'Bharat Mata ki Jai' slogans.

In a statement, Surya said when they came to know of Shah-led pro-CAA campaign in their locality, the duo decided to exercise their constitutional and democratic right to peacefully protest. "As a common citizen, this was the perfect opportunity for me to register my dissent in front of the home minister himself," she said. Her friend wanted to remain anonymous.

Soon after, she said a mob of around 150 people gathered on the street below their apartment who were "evidently enraged and threatened by the simple act of two girls protesting peacefully to tackle what they perceived as an obvious threat to their propaganda parade".

"A group broke apart from the mob gathered downstairs and forced their way up the stairs which lead to our residence and threatened to break down the door if we did not let them in. Not anticipating such a strong and violent reaction to a peaceful protest, we feared for our lives and safety and locked ourselves into our home, while they kept violently banging at our door and shouting until the police intervened," she said.

"The common entrance which led to the stairway of our house was locked and bolted by our landlord (who was part of the angry mob) and we were trapped in the house and unable to leave. Terrified, we called our friends to help us. When they arrived at the scene, the angry mob pushed them around and threatened them with more physical violence and refused to let them enter the house," she added.

Surya said their landlord, "who was visibly livid", informed them that they had been "evicted" from their residence.

Both the women were trapped inside their house for around seven hours, and only later, her father was allowed to enter along with a police officer, Surya said.