The Delhi High Court on Tuesday ordered the police to look into restrictions on the Kalindi Kunj-Shaheen Bagh stretch in the city, which has been closed since December 15 due to protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act, PTI reported. The traffic restrictions have led to huge bottlenecks in and around the Delhi-Noida Direct Flyway.
The High Court issued the order on a plea seeking to withdraw the closure of the area.
Large groups of women, and men, have been holding sit-in protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act at Shaheen Bagh. On Sunday, people of different religions came together to participate in a multi-faith prayer ceremony, NDTV reported. They also read out the Preamble to the Indian Constitution, pledging to protect its secular values.
“Scriptures from the Gita, the Bible, the Quran were read and Gurbani held,” Syed Taseer Ahmed, one of the organisers of the protest, told PTI. “Then the Preamble of the Constitution was also read out by people from varying faiths who are supporting this movement.”
The crowd swelled from a few hundred to thousands by Sunday afternoon. Congress MP Shashi Tharoor addressed the protestors in the evening.
Zainul Abidin, 44, had started a hunger strike against the citizenship law on December 16. A fortnight later, Mehrunissa, 40, also joined the hunger strike. Apart from this, three elderly women have been seen at the protest site from day one, NDTV reported.
The Citizenship Amendment Act, notified on January 10, provides citizenship to refugees from six minority religious communities from Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Pakistan, provided they have lived in India for six years and entered the country by December 31, 2014. The Act has been widely criticised and sparked protests for excluding Muslims. At least 26 people died in protests against the legislation last month.
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