Received 6 Lakh Cheque From Muslims As Damage Compensation: UP Government

Videos and a press release sent out by the Uttar Pradesh government suggest that prominent citizens from the Muslim community in western Uttar Pradesh's Bulandshahr have handed the district administration a cheque of over Rs 6 lakh towards what they say are damages for violence in the town last week after Friday prayers, in protests over the Citizenship Amendment Act. The release also says clerics in the neighbouring district of Muzaffarnagar, that also saw large scale violence, have apologized to the local administration for the violence there.

Videos and pictures sent by the government from Bulandshahr show a group of Muslim men handing over a demand draft of Rs 6.27 lakh to top government officials.

The government says an administration vehicle was burnt in the violence in Bulandshahr last Friday and many vehicles were damaged. The police have registered three First Information Reports, naming 22 people for the violence and another 800 unnamed people.

"The entire community got together and has contributed to the funds. We handed this to the government as a token from the entire community," Haji Akram Ali, who identified himself as a councillor, said in a video statement.

Pictures from Muzaffarnagar showed a group of religious leaders with administration officials, in what the government said was an expression of regret.

There has been much controversy over the violence across Uttar Pradesh, in particular the western part of the state, between last Thursday and Saturday. So far, 21 people have died in the violence, though police deny opening fire, except in Bijnore, where a 20-year-old civil services aspirant died.

There have also been many allegations of police vandalism and excesses in dealing with the protests and its aftermath. Videos had emerged allegedly showing Uttar Pradesh police personnel vandalising shops and cars at a violence-hit neighbourhood in Kanpur. In one of the videos shot clandestinely from the terrace of a house with a mobile phone on December 21, nearly a hundred police personnel can be seen breaking open the shutter of shops and damaging parked vehicles in Begumganj area hours after clashes had subsided. According to local residents, the loud noises heard in the footage are that of police breaking open shutters of shops.

In an attempt to defend themselves amid allegations of using disproportionate force, the state police released a series of photographs and videos showing two men firing at cops during protests against the controversial law.