Homes belonging to Muslim families in India have been ‘deliberately ransacked’ by police, with families illegally detained, human rights activists have claimed.
A video recorded by human rights activist Kavita Krishnan, who visited the area of Muzaffarnagar in the norther Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, shows one home that has been broken into with furniture and glass smashed, in what she says was a deliberate attack by police to intimidate those protesting against a proposed citizenship law in India.
Other pictures show homes completely destroyed, with belongings strewn across the floor.
Over the past month India has been gripped by protests as hundreds of thousands have taken to the streets to oppose the ‘Citizenship Amendment Act’, which the Indian government passed last month.
The law offers amnesty to non-Muslim illegal immigrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, however critics argue that it goes against India’s secular constitution, making citizenship dependant for the first time, on religious criteria.
It is also claimed that the law discriminates against Muslims, with Muslim minority groups not mentioned at all.
The law is also considered to be controversial because it comes after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government announced plans to establish a nationwide register of citizens that it claims will identify illegal immigrants.
A National Register of Citizens, which was published in the North-Eastern state of Assam, effectively resulted in 1.9 million becoming stateless, after they could not provide documents ‘proving their lineage’.
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Kavita, who visited the area as part of a fact finding mission for human rights organisations such as United Against Hate, said many of those whose homes were alleged to have been involved were fearful of speaking out due to reprisals.
She said: ‘The Uttar Pradesh police destroyed every last bit of furniture. ‘The families told me that the reason they didn’t destroy the entire property and kept it standing was because they said once we’ve kicked you out of the country, we will come and live here’.
She added that it ‘was only Muslims families that had been targeted’ and described the level of violence as ‘unprecedented’.
She claims the homes had been attacked as part of a message to the whole neighbourhood not to protest against the citizenship law.
Kavita claims that a number of people were also taken away by police during the raids on their homes, with their plight still unknown.
She said: ‘What is happening right now in India, is politicians from the ruling BJP government are stirring up violence against minorities. ‘The citizenship law is an attempt by the government of India to select who can and cannot be citizens of the state’.
Prime Minister Modi has defended the citizenship law, by claiming that the bill was passed to ‘help the persecuted’. He has called on the country to ‘respect India’s MPs and its parliament’.
A spokesperson from Human Rights Watch said: ‘The police, particularly in Uttar Pradesh state, has targeted Muslim communities to quell protests. ‘At least 19 people have been killed.
There are serious allegations of police abuse in custody including against children. ‘Instead of investigating allegations and ordering security forces to respect human rights laws and exercise restraint during violent protests, the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh state, a prominent BJP leader, has called for revenge and threatened to confiscate properties of those arbitrarily accused of violent protests.’
