Shrikant Sharma said following the notification for the CAA, all district magistrates in the state have been asked to collect data. Shrikant Sharma said following the notification for the CAA, all district magistrates in the state have been asked to collect data.

Two days after the amended Citizenship Act was notified by the Centre, a minister in the Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh government has claimed that “over 32,000 refugees have been identified in 21 districts of the state”.

Shrikant Sharma said following the notification for the CAA, all district magistrates in the state have been asked to collect data. “In the first list, more than 32,000 refugees have been identified in 21 districts of the state and the exercise and the identification exercise is underway in the state,” PTI quoted Sharma as saying.

The refugees, however, have been identified by an NGO, Nagrik Adhikar Manch. The NGO came up with a 116-page report, titled “Uttar Pradesh Mein Aaye Pakistan, Afghanistan Evam Bangladesh ke Sharnarthiyon ki Aapbeeti“, which has been sent to the state and the central government. “We have got the report of the Nagrik Adhikar Manch,” PTI quoted a senior Home Department official as saying.

Sharma claimed the refugees identified are from Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, living in areas such as Sahranpur, Gorakhpur, Aligarh, Rampur, Pratapgarh, Pilibhit, Lucknow, Varanasi, Bahraich, Lakhimpur, Rampur, Meerut, and Agra districts. Pilibhit has the maximum number of these refugees.

In the protests against the controversial legislation, Uttar Pradesh has been the worst affected. At least 19 protesters have lost their lives during the violence across the state.

Following damage to public property in the anti-CAA protests, the Uttar Pradesh government has slapped notices on 372 people (out of 478 identified) to recover damages. It has cited a set of Supreme Court recommendations from 2007 and a 2011 Allahabad High Court order to justify this after Chief Minister Adityanath declared “badla” (revenge) on protesters.

“This is the first time we are sending notices to identified rioters for recovery of the value of property damaged by them,” Uttar Pradesh DGP OP Singh had admitted to The Indian Express.

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