HC orders action against Uttar Pradesh cops for caning AMU students during anti-CAA protests

In yet another embarrassment for the Uttar Pradesh police, the Allahabad high court has ordered the state police chief to take action against the cops, who had caned the AMU students during the anti-CAA protests in Aligarh in December last year.

The court has also directed for payment of suitable compensation to six students, who were seriously injured in the police action, and sensitisation of the state police force.

A division bench comprising chief justice Govind Mathur and justice Samit Gopal passed the orders on Monday while accepting the recommendations of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), which had conducted a probe in the matter.

The NHRC has directed the UP police chief to identify the policemen (both district police and PAC), as seen in CCTV footages involved in stray incidents of damaging motorcycles and caning the apprehended students which had no bearing on the task of controlling law and order.

''The police force should be sensitised and special training modules be carried out to inculcate professionalism in handling such situations,'' the panel recommended.

Two ex-AMU students have filed a petition in the court alleging police excesses during the anti-CAA protests in Aligarh in December last year.

The state police was left red faced after a majority of cases against the people, who had been arrested on charges of indulging in violence and rioting while protesting against the CAA in different parts of the state, failed to stand judicial scrutiny.

Hundreds of CAA protesters, who were arrested by the cops, were granted bail by the courts after the police failed to produce any evidence to link them with the offences they were charged with.

In many cases, the courts trashed the police allegations saying that there was no evidence to support them.

In some cases, the police were forced to drop serious charges, including those of attempt to murder, against the protesters in a desperate bid to thwart their bail pleas in the courts.

As many as 21 people were killed and around one thousand arrested during the anti-CAA protests in the state last month.