Assam: Violence erupts during Waqf protests; no arrests made yet

Cachar (Assam) [India], April 14 (ANI): Violence erupted during a protest rally against the Waqf (Amendment) Act Assam's Cachar district, officials said on Monday. Cachar police have registered case but no arrests have been made as of yet.
According to police, officials lathi charged at the protestors after some people pelted stone on police personnel.
Reportedly, around 300-400 Muslim people on Sunday took out an 'un-permitted' protest rally against the Waqf (Amendment) Act at Berenga area in Cachar district and when the police personnel tried to stop the rally some people had started pelting stone targeting the security personnel.
The police personnel resorted lathi charge to disperse the crowd, officials said.
Superintendent of Police of Cachar, Numal Mahatta said that the protest rally was taken out without obtaining prior permission.
"The Model Code of Conduct is enforced in view of Panchayat polls and without prior permission they took out the protest rally. When we received the information we reached the spot and dispersed the crowd. Some of them tried to create law and order situation, but we brought the situation under control," Numal Mahatta said.
"If anyone tries to violate the law we are ready to take stern action against them. Now the situation is under control. We have registered a case. We have deployed security forces in this area to maintain the law and order situation," he added.
Assam's Panchayat elections will be held in 2 phases on May 2 and May 7. According to the Assam government, there are 21 Zilla Parishads, 185 Anchalik Panchayats and 2202 Gaon Panchayats in Assam currently. The votes will be counted on May 11. Total of 6981 candidates have gotten their nominations accepted by the State Election Commission.
According to EC, a total of 1,80,36,682 can vote in the upcoming elections, with over 90 lakh being male, a little over 89 lakh being female and 408 in the 'Others' categories. The Model Code of Conduct came into effect on April 2, after the announcement of the election schedule.
Since its passing, the bill has faced several legal challenges in the Supreme Court, with AIMIM MP Asaduddin Owaisi, Congress MPs Mohammad Jawed and Imran Pratapgarhi, AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan, and Azad Samaj Party chief and MP Chandra Shekhar Azad moving the court against the act.
The Act seeks to focus on improving the management of waqf properties, empowering relevant stakeholders, improving the efficiency of survey, registration, and case disposal processes, and developing waqf properties. (ANI)