Women CAA protesters in Lucknow 'imprison' themselves

Scores of women, who have been on a 'dharna' to protest against the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Act for the over two months now, made a 'temporary jail' in front of the historic Clock Tower here and 'imprisoned' themselves as a mark of protest against a government crackdown on the anti-CAA protesters.

The 'symbolic' jail, which had been made with wood and covered from two sides with cloths, had placards stating that it was a ''detention centre''.

A handful of women, who had lodged themselves inside the structure on Wednesday, raised anti-CAA slogans and demanded the scrapping of NRC and NPR also.

''We just wanted to convey the message that we are not afraid of going to jail....the government has already put many protesters in the jail in different parts of the state,'' said one of the women protesters.

A police team, on getting the information, reached the spot and dismantled the structure, sources here said.

Sources also said that some women protesters were warned that FIRs would be registered against them if they resorted to this kind of protest in the future.

Police have so far lodged cases against 400 people, mostly women, in connection with the dharna, which has been going on since December last year.

The women protesters have refused to call off their dharna despite several attempts by the cops. The police had seized blankets, bedsheets and eatables and even made a few arrests to force them to end their protest though unsuccessfully.