Two women who held up a banner against the Citizenship Amendment Act during Home Minister Amit Shah's visit to Lajpat Nagar on 5 January have reportedly been evicted from their rented home. One of them even claimed that they were verbally harassed and intimidated by a mob.
The two women displayed a banner in their balcony, just as the rally led by Shah was passing through their lane. The banner read, ‘Shame, CAA and NRC’ with CAA and NRC crossed out.
In a statement, Surya Rajappan, who is an advocate at the Delhi High Court, said that at least 150 people collected below their apartment and threatened to break down the door if they were not let in.
She wrote that as a common citizen, Shah's visit was the "perfect opportunity" for her to exercise her democratic right and register her dissent. Adding that the protest banner was “torn apart,” Rajan said that the “simple act” of protesting was perceived as a “threat to their propaganda parade.”
“This was the only opportunity [I had] when my voice could be heard by Amit Shah directly, It was a very spur of the moment thing; it was not pre-planned or anything,” Surya Rajappan told The News Minute.
“When we realised that he was coming, we thought that it would be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. There was no other way. If he was coming, and I had not done it, I don’t think my conscience would have been clean.”Surya Rajappan
‘We Feared for Our Lives’
When their friends were called for help, they too were pushed by the angry mob and threatened with more violence. A police complaint was filed against the mob, claimed Rajappan in the statement.
“Not anticipating such a strong and violent reaction to a peaceful protest, we feared for our lives and safety and locked ourselves in our home. They kept violently banging on our door and shouting until the police intervened. However, our ordeal was not over yet.”Surya Rajappan
“Terrified, we called our friends to come and help us. When they arrived at the scene, the angry mob pushed them around and threatened them with more physical violence and refused to let them enter the house to come meet us,” she told TNM.
While they were trapped inside the house for around seven hours, the duo was informed by their landlord, who was also allegedly a part of the mob, that they were being evicted from the building.
“Over the course of the last 48 hours, we have feared for our lives and for our safety,” she wrote further.
They were "allowed" to leave the house, seven hours later, with police protection.
Speaking to The Indian Express, the landlord, who did not want to be identified, said:
“They left the day after the anti-CAA banner was raised during Amit Shah’s rally. They left with their parents and I have no clue where they are. It was an inconvenience to everyone.”
When asked why he evicted them, he said, "I shouldn't have made them my tenants in the first place."
(With inputs from The Indian Express and The News Minute)
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