Hundreds of women anti-citizenship-act protesters on Sunday vacated a busy road in Aligarh City they had been occupying for a week, but only after securing key concessions including one that chief minister Yogi Adityanath had ruled out just two days ago.
The women vacated the Quarsi Road Bypass and returned to their original protest venue at the Shah Jamal Idgah, 4km away, after the police met them on Saturday with eminent residents, clerics and BJP and Samajwadi Party politicians.
In a climb-down, the administration has agreed to provide Rs 2 lakh as compensation to Mohammad Tariq, 25, who had suffered a gunshot injury during a clash between the protesters and the police on February 23.
Also, the police have agreed not to harass any protester without evidence of their direct involvement in any violence.
On Friday, Adityanath had said no compensation would be given for deaths or injuries suffered by the citizenship protesters.
Aligarh district magistrate Chandra Bhushan Singh said on Sunday: “We are giving Rs 2 lakh to Tariq for his treatment.”
The women had occupied the Idgah on January 30. They were enraged when the police allegedly baton-charged them on February 22, 23 and 24 and took away their shamiana.
Tariq was shot at during a clash nearby on February 23, the protesters alleging police firing and the police blaming “armed criminals” who had “infiltrated” the protest.
The police registered cases against 81 women, 60 of them unnamed, for rioting and damaging property and allegedly began raiding and bullying their families.
This prompted the women to block the Quarsi Road Bypass since February 24. They also occupied several other sites in the city but gradually withdrew from these.
A police source said the number of women at the Quarsi Road Bypass had grown from 1,500 to 7,000 by February 25.
On Saturday, a citizen’s delegation accompanying police officers told the women that their dharna was preventing over 100 shopkeepers from opening their shops and forcing residents into long detours.
“We wanted an assurance from the police that they wouldn’t bother us at Shah Jamal Idgah, where they had baton-charged us many times,” a protesting woman, who didn’t want to be identified, said. “The police gave the assurance, so we decided to oblige them.”
She added: “The women had put up a huge tent at Quarsi Road on Thursday and declared they would leave the place only after their death.”
Circle officer Anil Samania said: “No action will be taken against the protesters without a proper inquiry.”
He added: “There had been complete chaos because of the road blockade. The women agreed to vacate the area after a long discussion with important people of the city.”