New Delhi: Four protesters arrested in Chhapi village in Gujarat for allegedly protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) on December 19 last year have now moved the state high court for the quashing of an FIR against them.They had been booked for rioting, unlawful assembly, criminal conspiracy, dacoity, and causing rift between communities, reported Times of India.The FIR states that they had been rioting at 10 am. However, the accused claimed that they had already been detained by police at 8:45 am, much before the protests began.They also submitted that they were granted permission by the authorities, a day ago, on December 18, to celebrate the anniversary of freedom fighters Ashfaqullah Khan and Ram Prasad Bismil as well as to protest against CAA but the permission was withdrawn at the last moment.The Gujarat high court has ordered the government to explain the issue.The anti-CAA protests have invited unusual, brutal and often arbitrary police action.Police on January 8 filed a sedition case against an alumna of Mysuru University for holding up a poster “Free Kashmir” in a Mumbai protest against the assault on JNU students.Also read: Woman Who Held ‘Free Kashmir’ Poster Booked by Mumbai PoliceSedition charges were also slapped on nearly 3,000 protesters in Jharkhand, until chief minister Hemant Soren promised to remove the charges on behalf of the police.
