Live: Modi holds security talks as protests rage across country over citizenship law

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met his council of ministers on Saturday to discuss security measures to end violent protests against a citizenship law, government sources said, in one of biggest crises yet for his government.

At least 16 persons have been killed in clashes with the police in Uttar Pradesh during protests over three days over India's new citizenship law, reports Hindustan Times. 

Police said that over 600 people were taken into custody as part of "preventive action", Indian Express Reports. 

Meanwhile, as protests against the citizenship law swelled nationwide and there was a pushback from state governments and even its allies, the ruling BJP was heard climbing down on the plan for a pan-India National Register for Citizens.

After a game of cat-and-mouse, Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad surrendered before Delhi Police and was taken into custody in the wee hours of Saturday. He was under the radar of the cops prior to the massive protests against the contentious citizenship law, that erupted at the mosque immediately after Friday prayers. 

Bhim Army is an organization originated in Uttar Pradesh by lawyer Chandrashekhar Azad and Vinay Ratan Singh back in 2015. 

The Bhim Army leader staged the agitation yesterday without prior permission.

At least 45 people, including 13 police officers, were injured as Walled City protests in the national capital that had largely remained peaceful, turned violent on Friday evening. A constable's car parked outside Darya Ganj police station was set on fire, and as stone pelting started, police used lathi charge and a water cannon to disperse the crowd at Delhi Gate.

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LIVE UPDATES ON THE PROTEST

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9:40pm: Students of Jadavpur University, Calcutta University, Presidency University and Aliah University in Kolkata are protesting against citizenship law and Jamia Millia Islamia University incident, ANI tweets.

9:30pm: Elaborate security arrangements have been made for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's rally on Sunday at Delhi's Ramlila Maidan, reports Press Trust of India.

Ramlila Maidan is a little over a kilometre away from Old Delhi's Daryaganj that was hit by violence on Friday during the protest against the amended citizenship law.

9:00pm: Curfew was relaxed in Mangaluru on Saturday with the situation in the city which was rocked by violent protests against the citizenship law leaving two dead in police firing, peaceful, reports Indian Express.

The situation in Bengaluru and other parts of the state, where prohibitory orders were in place, was also peaceful with no major protests taking place.

8:30pm: Restrictions on movement were relaxed for brief period on Saturday in parts of Madhya Pradesh's Jabalpur city where curfew is in force, Press Trust of India reports quoting police.

As many as 35 persons have been arrested in connection with Friday's violence, they added.

8:10pm: Aam Aadmi Party's Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) & Delhi Waqf Board Chairman Amanatullah Khan announced compensation of Rs5 lakhs to each of the families of those who lost their lives during protests against citizenship law & NRC across the country, ANI tweets.

The compensation will be paid by Delhi Waqf Board.

Aam Aadmi Party is an Indian political party that formally launched on 26 November 2012. It is the current ruling party of the National Capital Territory of Delhi.

8:00pm: Four Upper District Magistrates of Uttar Pradesh's Lucknow have been tasked with the disposal of cases related to damage of property during protests against citizenship law in the city, ANI tweets.

Process to identify those responsible for damages is underway, to recover damages from them.

7:30pm: Even as protests continue against the citizenship law across the country, a Gujarat Lok Sabha MP on Saturday handed out citizenship certificates to three members of a Hindu family who came to India from Pakistan seeking refuge over a decade ago, reports Press Trust of India.

Rajkot Lok Sabha MP Mohan Kundariya handed out the certificates to Harsinh Sodha, Sarupsinh Sodha and Parbatsinh Sodha, who came to India in 2007, at a function held in Vavdi village in Morbi district of Gujarat.

7:15pm: An incident of scuffle took place in Kolkata between students and police. 

While students' rally was passing through CR Avenue opposite the BJP state headquarters, some students tried to climb up the road divider in a bid reach party office.

Policemen on the spot thwarted them from doing so. 

7:00pm: Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad has been sent to 14-day judicial custody after he was produced at the Tis Hazari court. 

Azad has been arrested for "instigating the crowd" at Darya Ganj in Old Delhi where a private car was set ablaze by a massive crowd protesting against the citizenship law. 

Bhim Army is an organization originated in Uttar Pradesh by lawyer Chandrashekhar Azad and Vinay Ratan Singh back in 2015.

6:30pm: Anti-citizenship law protestors in Kanpur set Yatimkhana police post on fire on Saturday and indulged in heavy brick batting, leading to injury to some people, a senior official said.

Police had to lob tear gas shells and use canes to chase them away. Fire tenders were rushed to control the flame, Additional Directorate General of Police (Kanpur) Prem Prakash said Rapid Action Force has been called out along with 'Vajr' vehicles to control the situation, reports Press Trust of India.

Samajwadi Party Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) Amitabh Bajpai and former MLA and SP leader Kamlesh Tewari have been arrested as a precautionary measure and their vehicles have also been seized.

Officials said that crowds gathered in areas like Babupurva, Nai Sadak, Moolganj, Dalelpurva and Haleem College, and police in large numbers was deployed to keep a watch over the situation. (PTI)

6:20pm: Section 144 have been imposed in Haridwar, which is an ancient city in North India's Uttarakhand state.

6:15pm: Tis Hazari Court sent all 15 Daryaganj violence accused to judicial custody. All of the 15 protestors, one claiming to be a juvenile, were produced before Duty Magistrate of Tis Hazari court at around 5:00pm.

They were arrested on Friday in connection with Daryaganj violence.

6:00pm: Protesters pelted stones at police, and police fired tear gas shells during protest against citizenship law in Yateem Khana Police Station area of Uttar Pradesh's Kanpur, ANI tweets. 

5:30pm: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met his council of ministers to discuss security measures to end violent protests against a citizenship law, government sources said, in one of biggest crises yet for his government.

5:00pm: 15 protesters, one claiming to be a juvenile, who were arrested Friday in connection with Daryaganj violence produced before Duty Magistrate of Tis Hazari court, reports Indian Express.

They have been booked under sections; 147,148,149,436,427,323,353,332,186,120-B/34 of Indian Penal Code and Section 3 and 4 of Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act.

Police are seeking 14 days of judicial custody for the accused.  

4:30pm: Police used tear gas shells against protesters in Rampur district of India's Uttar Pradesh after they pelted stones during a protest against citizenship law, ANI tweeted. 

4:15pm: The Uttar Pradesh Police chief maintained that police did not open fire during the protests against the citizenship law, suggesting that those who died were caught in cross-firing between protesters.

"All the deaths took place in cross-firing and this will become clear in the post-mortem examination," Uttar Pradesh Director General of Police (DGP) O P Singh told news agency Press Trust of India.

Meanwhile, at least 14 persons have been killed in clashes with the police in  during protests over three days in  UP. Police said that over 600 people were taken into custody as part of "preventive action". 

3:45pm: A group of students from Jamia Millia Islamia claimed that they had to cut short their field trip to Haryana state's Panipat district after some villagers asked them to 'leave or face the consequences', reports Press Trust of India.

Panipat's Superintendent of Police Sumit Kumar, however, denied any such incident and said the students did not complain about anything during their stay in the district.

One of the students, part of the 43-member group from Jamia's Social Work Department, said the incident happened on Tuesday when they were attending a 10-day rural camp in Patti Kalyana, Haldana and Garhi Tyagyan villages of Panipat district.

"The rural camp started on the morning of December 15, the day violence erupted near Jamia Millia Islamia (against the new citizenship law). Two teachers and two non-teaching staff accompanied us on the trip," said the student, who did not wish to be identified. 

3:00pm: An FIR has been registered against Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad, who was arrested by Delhi Police early this morning, in connection with Friday's violence in Darya Ganj. He has been accused of instigating the crowd.

1:30pm: Chennai police blocked and detained around two hundred students near the Chennai central station as they attempted rail roko demanding withdrawal of the citizenship law, reports NDTV.

12:45pm: Mobile internet services resumed in Meghalaya on Saturday, eight days after they were snapped in the wake of violent protests over the new citizenship law. The ban on mobile internet and mass messaging services, imposed on December 12, was lifted at around 7 pm on Friday due to improvement in law and order situation. 

11:50am, Saturday: The death toll in Uttar Pradesh in violence over the citizenship law has risen to 11, PTI quoted officials as saying.

10:15pm, Friday: "As many as 36 injured protesters came for treatment. One protester has got his leg injured, would be shifted in ward," Dr Kishore Singh, medical superintendent of Lok Nayak Hospital at Delhi Gate told ANI.

9:45pm: Groups of lawyers and social workers have gathered at Daryaganj police station. According to the lawyers, those detained inside the police station called them. However, the police says no detention has been made and is not letting anyone enter the station premises.

9:15pm: "Citizenship Act and NRC are against the poor. The poor they will be most affected by it. What will the daily wage labourers do? Demonstrations should be held peacefully," said Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra during a protest at Delhi's India Gate.

8:30pm: Locals offer tea and roses to police personnel deployed for maintaining law & order following protest against citizenship law in Delhi's Jafrabad, ANI wrote on their Twitter page.

8:00pm: Two more people have died in Meerut, taking the toll to three in the city, reports Hindustan Times.

Earlier, one person was reported dead in Ferozabad. The death toll in Uttar Pradesh has gone up to 4.

7:50pm:  "Entry  & exit gates at all stations, except Jama Masjid, Jaffrabad and Maujpur-Babarpur have been opened," Delhi Metro Rail Corporation tweeted.     

7:45pm: Md Awez (14), a resident of Begumpura, Kanpur, and Shadeb (14) of Choti Bajariya area of Madhya Pradesh, were injured on their way back from the mosque, reports Hindustan Times.

Awez said he was hit by a bullet in his abdomen, while Shadab was shot in his leg.

"We were going home after the namaaz and were hit by bullet," said Awez.

7:30pm: Citizenship of India may be proved by giving any document relating to date of birth or place of birth or both. Such a list is likely to include a lot of common documents to ensure that no Indian citizen is unduly harassed or put to inconvenience, Spokesperson, Ministry of Home Affairs wrote on Twitter.

Indian citizens do not have to prove any ancestry by presenting documents like identity cards, birth certificates etc of parents/grand parents dating back to pre-1971 situation, the tweet further says.

7:15pm: Asif, a 20-year-old died of bullet injuries in Meerut of Uttar Pradesh. Another man of the same age named Salim is undergoing treatment at a private hospital.

"Asif, 20, died of a gunshot while Salim in undergoing treatment," Dr Iqram Khan, the emergency medical officer at the private hospital (Anand Hospital) told Hindustan Times.

7:05pm: Congress President Sonia Gandhi said, "In a democracy, people have the right to raise their voice against wrong decisions and policies of the government, and register their concerns… BJP government has shown utter disregard for people's voices and chosen to use brute force to suppress dissent."

7:00pm: A police vehicle has been set on fire at Delhi Gate area of Dayaganj.

Police chased the protestors towards Jama Masjid and Red Fort. 

6:45pm: Sixteen stations of the Delhi Metro Rain Corporation (DMRC) have been shut down today. DMRC tweeted a list of stations that are currently closed.

6:40pm: Several protesters have gathered at the Delhi Gate in Daryaganj area.

As protesters and Delhi Police clash with each other, the police are using water cannons on the protesters to douse the demonstration.

6:15pm: Entry and exit gates for metro stations — Kashmere Gate and Central Secretariat — have been closed increasing travel restriction in Delhi.

6:00pm: As intense protests continue at Jamia Millia Islamia University, scores of students from the varsity took out a march, holding flowers in their hands, reports ANI.

The students of the University offered roses to the Delhi Police in an attempt for peace.

5:30pm: Eight journalists along with camera crew of Kerala-based TV channels, who had interviewed relatives of those killed in the December 19 police firing during protests against the citizenship law, were released after being detained for seven hours by the Mangaluru Police, reports The Indian Express.

No explanation has been provided for their detention.

5:00pm: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Friday signalled that he didn't want the Centre to roll out the National Register of Citizens, or NRC, in Bihar just a day after he told minorities in Bihar that they had nothing to worry.

4:30pm: Delhi Police have detained Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad. 

Bhim Army is an organization originated in Uttar Pradesh by lawyer Chandrashekhar Azad and Vinay Ratan Singh back in 2015.

He was holding up a copy of the Constitution leading the protest at Jama Masjid, reports The Indian Express.

A large number of people had joined the demonstration after attending the Frdiay prayers at the mosque.

4:00pm, Friday: Delhi Metro Rail Corporation closed the entry and exit gates of the metro station of Jamia Millia Islamia University as protests continue.

Besides Jamia, the gates of Jaffrabad and Maujpur-Babarpur are also closed.

Protest intensifies in India's Uttar Pradesh

Tension simmered in other several cities—Gorakhpur, Deoband (Saharanpur), Muzaffarnagar, Hapur, Shamli, Prayagraj, Bulandshahr, Meerut, Firozabad, Varanasi, Farukkhabad, Bijnore, Bhadoi and Hamirpur—as thousands defied pleas by authorities to exercise restraint a day after large-scale violence was reported across the state.

"The situation is tense in some districts. An adequate police force has been deployed to contain the situation," inspector general of police (law and order), Praveen Kumar, said.

Seven people were injured in police firing in the protest at Babupurwa locality in Kanpur, where massive protests broke out in several localities after Friday prayers as thousands defied the prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).

Protesters marched in a long procession from Halim Muslim College to Phoolbagh—a distance of nearly 4km. Several participating in the procession engaged in vandalism as they reached Yatimkhana and damaged a showroom and a three-wheeler and pelted the police with stones.

Police began lathicharge to disperse the crowd. The situation came under control after Sheher Qazi Alam Raza Noori asked the crowd to end the protest and disperse.

Violent protests were also reported from Firozabad after people coming out from Friday prayers clashed with police. Police had to face stone-pelting by an angry mob, which burnt down a few vehicles, and reports of firing came in as well.

Heavy police force was deployed in Firozabad amid apprehension of protests against CAA and internet services were suspended for Friday.

Protests and tension was also reported in Shamli, Hapur and Muzaffarnagar.

In Shamli, a large number of people gathered at the Azad Chowk with placards after the Friday namaaz and shouted slogans. The police used mild lathi-charge to disperse the crowd.

In Hapur, intense protests began after the Friday prayers as protesters also pelted the police with stones. Similar scenes were reported from Muzaffarnagar.

In Gorakhpur, stone-pelting protesters were lathi-charged by police. People wore black ribbons, shouted slogans and waved the tricolour while protesting after the Friday prayers.

In Deoband, nearly 2500 people gathered and marched from Sarfata Bazar to Khanka police outpost. They held placards with anti-CAA slogans and several of them also had the national flag as they marched towards Shastri Chowk.

The situation was peaceful in Varanasi as people protested against CAA after Friday prayers in Nadesar area. They submitted a memorandum addressed to President Ram Nath Kovind against CAA to police officials.

Friday prayers also passed off peacefully in Prayagraj with the district administration keeping a close vigil in and around several mosques in the city.

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After offering Friday prayers, members of the Muslim community took out a procession from outside the Jama Masjid in Chowk but were stopped by the police near Shahganj locality by barricading the road.

The crowd tried to proceed but called off the procession and dispersed after a call by the Sheher Qazi to leave.

A 25-year-old man was killed in Thursday's violence and more than 35 people, including 16 policemen, were injured in the protests against the citizenship act in Lucknow.

Police on Thursday had resorted to baton charge, fired tear gas shells and used water cannons to control the situation and chase away the violent mob in several areas of the state capital.

Internet and text messaging services were suspended in 14 districts of Uttar Pradesh, including Lucknow, following Thursday's large-scale violence as protests against CAA spun out of control in these areas.

As many as 3,505 people have been kept under preventive custody, according to authorities. More than 200 people were detained for questioning during a midnight crackdown in search of those involved in arson and vandalism in Lucknow.