EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE THE HINDU DELHI FRIDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2019 NEWS 13 EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE Fire and fury: Smoke billowing from a media van at Parivartan Chowk in Lucknow; Left leaders Sitaram Yechury and D. Raja taking part in a protest at Jantar Mantar; and activist Medha Patkar joins protesters in New Delhi * PTI, SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR, SUSHIL KUMAR VERMA IN BRIEF National capital goes offline amid protests Telecom service providers cite 700 flights delayed, 20 cancelled at IGI Airport Are we in a totalitarian govt. directive Staff Reporter hi’s border with Gurugram and nearly 223 flights sche­ show, and accommodate, on Bihar bandh hits train, NEW DELHI and adjoining areas led to duled to arrive in Delhi, subsequent flights, all those state, asks Punjab CM vehicular traffic Nearly 700 flights were de­ massive traffic snarls, delay­ faced delays as poor visibili­ who were unable to reach PATNA Special Correspondent layed and at least 20 can­ ing commuters by several ty added to the misery of the airport on time. SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT The movement of trains and NEW DELHI celled at Delhi’s Indira Gand­ hours, including IndiGo’s passengers. Passengers wanting to CHANDIGARH vehicles has been disrupted In the wake of the protests hi International Airport on crew members, who were cancel on Thursday for this Several people staged a sit­ at several places in Bihar against the Citizenship Thursday as many passen­ unable to reach the airport Alternative flights reason would also receive a in against the Citizenship during the bandh called by (Amendment) Act in the na­ gers and crew members for their flights, according to All airlines offered to accom­ full refund, Air India Chair­ (Amendment) Act (CAA) Left parties on Thursday to tional capital, mobile servic­ were stuck in traffic conges­ an airport official. modate the affected passen­ man and Managing Director and the National Register of protest against the es — including voice and In­ tion en route to the airport The airline had to cancel gers in alternative flights for Ashwani Lohani posted on Citizens (NRC) here on Citizenship (Amendment) Act ternet — were suspended for due to security arrange­ 20 of its flights. free, as well as free cancella­ Twitter. IndiGo said in a Thursday. and the National Register of the first time in parts of Delhi ments in view of the protests tions and rescheduling. statement that it had ar­ Amid tight security, they Amarinder Singh Citizens. The bandh also on Thursday by telecom ser­ in the city against the Citi­ Poor visibility In view of the traffic jams ranged for its crew to be put gathered at a mosque in Sec­ received support from the vice providers on a govern­ zenship (Amendment) Act. According to flightra­ in the National Capital Re­ up in hotel rooms near the tor 20 and shouted slogans. Taking to Twitter, he said: ‘mahagathbandhan’. ment directive. Heavy security arrange­ dar24.com, a total of 464 gion, Air India has decided airport, so that they could Protesters alleged that the “No democracy can work by Thursday’s shutdown took ment and barricading at Del­ flights scheduled to depart, to give a full refund on no­ be deployed at short notice. NRC and the CAA were a suppressing people’s voice. Youth Congress, CPI(M) the number of Internet shut­ DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD desperate attempt to des­ I condemn the crackdown stage protests in Jammu downs in India this year to troy the country’s Constitu­ on peaceful CAAProtests in SRINAGAR 94. This is the seventh in­ cording to digital rights or­ national capital. While Bharti ers, said voice, Internet and tweets were later deleted. tion and spoil the peaceful Delhi & other cities. Preven­ Youth Congress and CPI(M) stance of blocking of data ser­ ganisation sflc.in Airtel, Vodafone Idea and Re­ SMS services were suspended The order to all telecom atmosphere. tive & penal measures workers on Thursday staged vices in the past 10 days as a A spokesperson of sflc.in liance Jio declined to com­ in some parts of Delhi, in­ service providers was issued Punjab Chief Minister should be used in propor­ protests against the response to the anticipated said this was the first time ment, customer service re­ cluding Jamia Nagar, Seelam­ by the office of the Deputy Amarinder Singh said no de­ tion to the threat to law & or­ Citizenship (Amendment) Act protests against the Citizen­ that such a shutdown of Inter­ presentatives of the first two, pur, Mandi House and some Commissioner of Police, Spe­ mocracy could work by sup­ der. Are we living in a totali­ in Jammu. The Congress said ship (Amendment) Act, ac­ net services was seen in the in separate tweets to their us­ areas of the walled city. The cial Cell, New Delhi. pressing people’s voice. tarian state?” several of its leaders were arrested. The activists marched towards the Exhibition Ground but were stopped by the police. One dead in firing as protests rock Lucknow Badal for citizenship to SP workers detained More than two dozen vehicles were torched at different locations and 16 policemen injured in violence all persecuted minorities in Gorakhpur SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT ‘Sarbat Da Bhala (welfare of GORAKHPUR (U.P.) Special Correspondent Lucknow witnessed chaotic “It was an inspector who it has anything to do with CHANDIGARH all)’. We want all persecuted Hundreds of protesters, LUCKNOW scenes. fired the bullet near the Hus­ this agitation or police action Sukhbir Singh Badal, presi­ minorities seeking sanctu­ including Samajwadi Party A man died of an alleged fi­ At least 16 policemen were sainabad police outpost. and police reaction,” he told dent of the Shiromani Akali ary in India to be given citi­ workers and leaders, were rearm injury as protests injured in the clashes and ar­ There was firing from the reporters. Dal, a constituent of the BJP­ zenship & equal rights. Un­ detained in Gorakhpur and against the Citizenship son, the police said. Moham­ police outpost. My friend, Two persons allegedly re­ led NDA, said on Thursday ity in diversity is our other cities of eastern Uttar (Amendment) Act turned mad Waqeel of Daulatganj, who was accompanying [my ceived gunshot injuries and that all persecuted minori­ greatest strength & I reiter­ Pradesh during anti­ violent in Lucknow on an auto driver, died of an “al­ brother] saw it himself,” said were being treated at KGMU ties seeking sanctuary in In­ ated this in Parliament also.” citizenship law protests on Thursday, leading to the ar­ leged firearm injury”, a spo­ Mr. Taufeeq, adding that his but there was no confirma­ dia should be given The Akali Dal had voted Thursday after they defied rest of at least 55 persons in kesperson for the King Ge­ brother was not a part of the tion yet if the incident was citizenship. in favour of the Citizenship prohibitory orders, police said. In Gorakhpur, a large the State capital. More than orge Medical University said. protests. linked to the protests. Four The former Deputy CM of (Amendment) Bill in both number of SP workers two dozen vehicles, includ­ Waqeel’s brother Taufeeq Mr. Singh said the firing police station areas — Hazrat­ Punjab took to Twitter, say­ Houses of Parliament, but demonstrated at Laxmibai A policeman fires a tear­gas ing a State bus, TV broadcast alleged that he was shot by a was “not done from our ganj, Thakurganj, Hasanganj ing, “Our stand on the Citi­ its lawmakers had demand­ Park. Police detained over shell in Lucknow on vans and police vehicles, policeman, a charge denied side.” “I don’t know how the and Wazirganj — were hit by zenship Bill has always been ed that all minorities should 300 protesters. PTI Thursday. * REUTERS were torched as parts of old by DGP O.P. Singh. death occurred. I don’t think violent protests. based on the Sikh ideal of be included. Section 144, a vestige of colonial rule It is targeted as an insidious provision as it confers almost unbridled powers upon executive officers Abhinav Sekhri they can make sure that the India’s criminal justice archi­ procedure was correctly fol­ tecture continues to reflect lowed, but they cannot sub­ its colonial heritage, both on stitute their judgment for paper and in practice. This is that of the officer on the perhaps reflected best in the ground. vibrant and unfettered invo­ Furthermore, the ex­ cation of Section 144 in the treme breadth of powers Criminal Procedure Code, conferred upon executive of­ 1973 [“Cr.P.C.”], which con­ ficers by Section 144 is not fers upon executive officers specifically tailored towards such as executive magis­ the kinds of dangers that are trates or sub­divisional ma­ sought to be prevented. Let’s gistrates, unimaginable pow­ unpack this further. Section ers for passing orders to 144(1) confers these powers