Videos released show how Meerut cops were rescued during anti-CAA protests

New Delhi:  The Uttar Pradesh Police on Thursday released two videos showing as many as 30 cops locked inside a building and the violent protestors making a bid to set the house on fire purportedly to kill the policemen, during anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protests in Meerut. The video has been released by the police to justify their claims of being attacked by anti-CAA protesters. The cops were later rescued as more police enforcement reached the spot.

During anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protests, Meerut witnessed violent protests, and as many as six people lost their lives. Although many of the bodies of those killed bore gunshot wounds, the police maintained that they did not shoot anything other than plastic pellets and rubber bullets. The Uttar Pradesh Director General of Police (DGP), OP Singh, had earlier told the press, “As many as 288 policemen were injured in violence that erupted across 21 districts. Sixty-two of them suffered firearm injuries.” 

Notably, the Meerut police have been probing links between the recent violent clashes in the city to the Popular Front of India (PFI). The PFI has reportedly been spreading its tentacles in Meerut since July 2019.

The Meerut Police registered two cases of making inciting statements in a religious context - one in Lisadi Gate police station and another in Nauchandi police station - and arrested PFI zonal head Mufti Shazaad and his aide Mohm Waseem. During the anti-CAA and NRC protests, pamphlets were distributed in Meerut, appealing to people to come out in huge numbers after the Friday prayers and block roads outside the main masjid.