Indian police mistake wedding for anti-Modi protest, uproot tents

As anti-Citizens Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC) protests against Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi’s government continue across India, Uttar Pradesh (UP) police have disrupted a wedding after mistaking it for a sit-in.

According to India Times, UP police on Saturday uprooted a tent meant for a wedding in the Mohalla Mirdagan area of Bijnor city. The wedding was scheduled for February 4 and the bride’s father had set up the tent in a vacant land.

All gifts and other items for the bride were kept in the tent. Police arrived on the spot and assuming that the tent was set up for anti-CAA/NRC protest without permission, started uprooting it. However, after realising the truth, they asked the family to reinstall the tent, reportedly not even helping them.

The anti-CAA and NRC protests are ongoing protests taking place across India and overseas against the CAA that was enacted into law on December 12, 2019, and the proposals to enact a nationwide NRC. The protests began in Assam, Delhi, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh and Tripura on December 4, and within a few days, spread across India, though the concerns of the protesters vary.