Police detained around 3,500 people to stop the Delhi anti-SIR protest at Jantar Mantar on Saturday, ThePrint reported. Protesters were demanding the rollback of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
Shaheen Bagh and Muslim students targeted
Maktoob Media, citing The Indian Express, reported that more than 1,000 people were detained overnight, including around 250 from Southeast Delhi, particularly areas around Shaheen Bagh, the epicentre of the 2020 anti-CAA protests. Seven Muslim Students Federation activists, including the general secretary of its Jamia Millia Islamia unit, were detained around 12:30 a.m.
Delhi anti-SIR protest met with a siege
According to Maktoob, authorities shut 45 Metro stations, cancelled at least 245 trains and suspended mobile internet across central Delhi. ThePrint said opposition leaders including Mamata Banerjee, Arvind Kejriwal and Pinarayi Vijayan, as well as journalists and lawyers, were detained. Police said the preventive detentions could last up to 24 hours.
Georgetown University’s Bridge Initiative noted on Friday that the Modi government has been accused of removing millions of Muslims from electoral rolls. Economist Jean Drèze told reporters the government was afraid “that the people of this country will understand that their right to vote is being taken away.”
Sources: ThePrint, Maktoob Media, Bridge Initiative
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