The West Bengal Police on Monday said that more than 200 persons have been arrested in connection with recent violent protests against the Waqf Act in Murshidabad district that have left three dead, The Indian Express.

“For the last 36 hours, there have been no reports of fresh violence,” the newspaper quoted Javed Shamim, additional director general (law and order) as saying on Monday. “We are now putting all our efforts and channelising all our energy into bringing normalcy.”

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 received presidential assent on April 5 and took effect on April 8.

On the same day that the Act came into effect, 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.

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

“We all saw what happened Friday onwards,” Shamim told The Indian Express. “You have to understand that it takes time to pacify the situation whenever there are communal flare-ups in any state. However, here it is much better, and the credit goes not only to the police but to the press, social media, and people in general who are very responsible.”

He added that the number of first information reports being registered in the matter was increasing.

“We will find the culprits from wherever possible,” Shamim said. “But everyone involved in instigating an act of violence will face stern punishment.”

He added that around 19 families who had left their homes amid the violence had returned. “Slowly, we are working in tandem to bring them back,” Shamim said. “The situation is coming back to normal.”

Shamim clarified that internet services would continue to be suspended as “rumour-mongering has proved to be a big issue for law enforcers”.

A day earlier, 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.

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”.

“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.

In Assam too, a protest in Cachar district against the amendments to the Waqf Act turned violent on Sunday. 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”.

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”.