EVERYONE HAS BEEN SILENCED Police Excesses Against Anti-CAA Protesters In Uttar Pradesh, And The Post-violence Reprisal Citizens Against Hate Citizens against Hate (CAH) is a Delhi-based collective of individuals and groups committed to a democratic, secular and caring India. It is an open collective, with members drawn from a wide range of backgrounds who are concerned about the growing hold of exclusionary tendencies in society, and the weakening of rule of law and justice institutions. CAH was formed in 2017, in response to the rising trend of hate mobilisation and crimes, specifically the surge in cases of lynching and vigilante violence, to document violations, provide victim support and engage with institutions for improved justice and policy reforms. From 2018, CAH has also been working with those affected by NRC process in Assam, documenting exclusions, building local networks, and providing practical help to victims in making claims to rights. Throughout, we have also worked on other forms of violations – hate speech, sexual violence and state violence, among others in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Bihar and beyond. Our approach to addressing the justice challenge facing particularly vulnerable communities is through research, outreach and advocacy; and to provide practical help to survivors in their struggles, also nurturing them to become agents of change. This citizens’ report on police excesses against anti-CAA protesters in Uttar Pradesh is the joint effort of a team of CAH made up of human rights experts, defenders and lawyers. Members of the research, writing and advocacy team included (in alphabetical order) Abhimanyu Suresh, Adeela Firdous, Aiman Khan, Angela Dua, Anshu Kapoor, Devika Prasad, Fawaz Shaheen, Ghazala Jamil, Guneet Ahuja, Madhur Bharatiya, Mohammad Ghufran, Mangla Verma, Mathew Jacob, Misbah Reshi, Nidhi Suresh, Parijata Bhardwaj, Rehan Khan, Sajjad Hassan, Salim Ansari, Sharib Ali, Shreya Singh, Sneha Chandna, Sunil Kuksal, Talha Rahman, Vipul Kumar and Zainab Amal. Henri Tiphagne, Ravi Nair, Seema Nair and Tehmina Arora provided valuable guidance. We are thankful to them. We would also like to express our gratitude to victim families, survivors, witnesses and other local informants who agreed to be interviewed for this report, and helped us with relevant documents and insights – despite the pall of fear induced by authorities in Uttar Pradesh. Their courage and hopes for justice is inspiring. This report is the property of Citizens Against Hate. Those wishing to use its contents for non-commercial purposes, may do so freely. We’ll appreciate a word of acknowledgement. “Everyone has been silenced” Police excess against anti-CAA protesters in Uttar Pradesh, and post-violence reprisal 2nd March, 2020 Citizens Against Hate, New Delhi www.citizensagainsthate.org Table of Contents Foreword ..............................................................................................................................................................9 Executive Summary ...................................................................................................................................13 Editors Note .................................................................................................................................................... 19 The Murdered .................................................................................................................................................21 Abbreviations .................................................................................................................................................25 List of Boxes 27 Note on terminology ................................................................................................................................29 SECTION - A ...................................................................................................................................31 1.“Everyone has been silenced” .......................................................................................................33 1.1 Introduction: CAA 2019 and country-wide protests .......................................33 1.2 Objective, research questions and data collection .........................................36 1.3 Uttar Pradesh, Muslims, and right to life and liberty .......................................38 1.4 Gag Orders: Restricting assembly and expression .............................................41 Domestic ..................................................................................................................................................46 1.5 Using iron fist to subdue: Lethal force against protests ..............................49 1.6 Enforcing ‘revenge’: Violence and targeting ...........................................................56 a. Killings and injuries .................................................................................................................56 b. Brutalising children: Illegal detention and torture ..................................... 60 c. Vandalising property .............................................................................................................65 d. Collective punishment......................................................................................................... 66 1.7 Covering Up: Police subverting justice process ................................................. 68 a. Forced burials ............................................................................................................................. 69 b. Doctored FIRs ..............................................................................................................................70 c. Delayed autopsy reports ....................................................................................................72 d. Witness intimidation ...........................................................................................................73 1.8 Enabling impunity ......................................................................................................................... 74 a. Political leadership green-lighting repression ................................................ 74 b. Police bosses leading the charge ..............................................................................76 c. Outsourcing law and order to vigilante groups ................................................78 6 1.9 Justice Institutions – a ray of hope?...............................................................................79 1.10 Conclusion: Weaponising police bias ....................................................................... 81 1.11HRDs targeted .................................................................................................................................84 1.12 Recommendations .................................................................................................................. 89 SECTION - B : Commentaries ...............................................................................................91 2. Why such glaring police excesses? ........................................................................................93 3. We Shall Not Be Silenced, Nor Shall We Ever Forget ................................................97 Annexure ...................................................................................................................................... 105 Group A Districts .......................................................................................................................................109 1. Bijnor ...................................................................................................................................................110 2. FIROZABAD ..................................................................................................................................123 3. Kanpur .............................................................................................................................................. 131 4. Lucknow .......................................................................................................................................... 141 5. Meerut ...............................................................................................................................................152 6. MUZAFFARNAGAR .................................................................................................................160 7. Rampur ...........................................................................................................................................168 8. Sambhal ..........................................................................................................................................172 9. Varanasi ............................................................................................................................................178 Group B Districts ........................................................................................................................................183 10. Aligarh ............................................................................................................................................. 185 11. AZAMGARH & MaU .................................................................................................................191 12. Bahraich ..........................................................................................................................................196