Peaceful protesters in Lucknow were in for a rude shock when police rained lathis on them. Many of them were detained including activist Sadaf Jafar. Her whereabouts remained a mystery until recently when an activist found her in a police lock-up. The activist told Sabrang India, “She is in jail. Beaten but not broken. Kicked in the stomach. Beaten with batons. Her bail application will be heard on Monday.”
Jafar was marching peacefully from Polytechnique to Hazratganj in Lucknow with a few other activists and friends, when a few people posing as protesters infiltrated their group and suddenly became violent. Jafar, who is also a journalist, started broadcasting everything live on her Facebook feed. It shows how the police refused to act against the violent miscreants. Jafar and her activist friends kept a distance away from the violent protesters. However, it was she and her friends who ended up being detained! You can watch her FB live here:
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Jafar has suffered bleeding due to internal injuries sustained to her abdomen during custodial torture and requires immediate medical attention. There are fears that the arrests were purposely made in such a manner that bail hearing cannot take place before Monday and that would give police the entire weekend to torture peaceful protesters.
Meanwhile, a local organization estimates that close to 200 hundred people have been detained in Lucknow. There are also reports of two senior citizens; Ret IPS officer Darapuri and Senior Advocate Shoib have been arrested and are in judicial custody. Both are over the age of 75 and are heart patients.
Meanwhile, the death toll has touched 15 in Uttar Pradesh. The dead include an eight year old boy. Five deaths took place in Meerut alone. Two deaths were reported from Firozabad, Kanpur, Sambhal and Bijnaur. One death each took place in Lucknow and Varanasi. Internet services are only intermittently available and that too only in select location in the state.