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‘They Are Kids Not Terrorists’: Protesting Mothers to Delhi Cops

“I am protesting because my daughter was hurt in the violence in Jamia on Sunday,” one of the parents tells us.

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Video Producer: Debayan Dutta

“I am protesting because my daughter was hurt in the violence on Sunday. She was in the library at Jamia University that day. She couldn’t join the protest yesterday (Monday) because glass shards were lodged in her leg. When people tried to take her outside for medical attention, they were detained and thrashed.”
Mother of an injured Jamia student

Across the country, as protests against the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), NRC and police violence on students escalate, it isn’t just the students themselves who are coming out in numbers on the streets. Parents of several students are joining the demonstrations as well.

We caught up with some of the protesting parents, to find out the reasons behind their opposition.

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‘They Are Kids Not Terrorists’: Parents Remind Delhi Police

Nigar Sultana, whose daughter is completing her BA (Honours) in English at Jamia, says, “Kids live in the hostel. You enter the hostel at night and you try to overpower them. The girls told me that the police held guns to their heads and called them Muslim. So many girls have fractures. What is this?”

Shamim, whose daughter studies Law at Jamia, recounts how worried she was on the night of 15 December, when news started spreading of Delhi Police entering the campus and beating up students.

“We were worried all night. The campus was closed down from all sides and they were so brutally beaten up. They are kids, not terrorists... but that's how they were treated,” she says.

Another parent at the protest adds, “We had tears in our eyes looking at the kids screaming when they were thrashed.”

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'Is This Not Our Country?’

Speaking to The Quint at a protest in Delhi, Sultana asks, “Is this not our country? Haven't Muslims fought the battle for India's freedom? Don't we love our country? Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and other religions – we all live in harmony.”

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Mothers in Solidarity

In Bengaluru, Sukanya Srinivas’ daughter was among those taken to SJ Park Police Station for protesting against CAA-NRC and its violent fallout.

Sukanya spoke to The Quint outside the police station and expressed her support to the protesting students: “I thought my daughter needs to have the courage of conviction for what she believes in and so, I supported her. I only said, 'Be safe’. Some reporter called and told me that she has been detained by the police. So, my husband and I came to get her out and see what's happening... and to support her and her friends, because I think a lot of other parents did not know what had happened.”

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