A protest in Assam’s Cachar district against the recent amendments to the Waqf Act turned violent on Sunday, reported PTI. While the protesters threw stones, the police lathi-charged them.

The Cachar district administration issued orders prohibiting gatherings after the clash to prevent “potential disruption of public tranquility”, according to The Indian Express.

An unidentified police officer told PTI that around 300 persons started the protest in the Berenga area of Silchar town without permission.

“Police forces were deployed and began dispersing them,” Cachar Superintendent of Police Numal Mahatta said. “While dispersing them, some agitated men tried to vitiate the environment. So, we dispersed them using lathi charge.”

Mahatta said that a first information report had been registered. The situation is under control, he added.

This came a day after Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that his state had remained peaceful “despite having a nearly 40% Muslim population”.

A waqf is a property dedicated to a religious, educational or charitable cause under Islamic law. Each state has a waqf board led by a legal entity that is vested with the power to acquire, hold and transfer property.

The recent changes to the law curb the authority of waqf boards and allow greater government control over them.

The 2024 Waqf Amendment Bill brought changes to 44 sections of the 1995 Waqf Act, including allowing non-Muslims on waqf boards, restricting property donations and changing how waqf tribunals function.

The bill was cleared by Parliament on April 4. It was given presidential assent on April 5 and took effect on April 8.

BJP MP seeks AFSPA in West Bengal

Bharatiya Janata Party MP Jyotirmay Singh Mahato urged Union Home Minister Amit Shah to impose the Armed Forces Special Powers Act in Murshidabad and three other districts of West Bengal amid violence during anti-Waqf Act protests in the state.

The Armed Forces Special Powers Act, or AFSPA, gives Army personnel sweeping powers in disturbed areas to search, arrest and open fire if deemed necessary for “the maintenance of public order”.

The Murshidabad district has been roiled by protests over the past few days against the Waqf Act, which have turned violent.

Three persons have died amid the protests in the district. A total of 118 persons have been arrested in connection with the violence.

“For the last many days, a ‘Jammu & Kashmir type’ situation – when Hindus were forced to migrate in the 1990s – has been created, especially in these four districts of Bengal,” Mahato was quoted as claiming by ANI.

On April 8, the day the Waqf Amendment Act came into force, a mob clashed with the police, threw stones and set the vehicles of security forces on fire in Murshidabad’s Jangipur during protests against it. Several police personnel were reportedly injured in the clashes.

On Friday afternoon, protestors blocked National Highway 12 at Shajurmore crossing near Dhulian.

Nearly 5,000 protestors had also blocked railway tracks, resulting in two passenger trains getting cancelled and four express trains being diverted, stated the Eastern Railway.

On Saturday, the Calcutta High Court on Saturday ordered Central Armed Police Forces to be deployed in Murshidabad district.