Who is a citizen? Who decides?

"The Rapid Action Force has filed a complaint against 1,000 unnamed protesters for violence at Aligarh Muslim University during the anti-CAA stir on December 15, a senior officer said. The force also admitted using rubber bullets, stun grenades, tear gas and chilli shells to control the mob, reports Anuja Jaiswal." This is in addition to, "Police have already filed two FIRs and arrested 52 people, including 7 AMU students, who were booked along with 1,200 to 1,300 unidentified persons." FIR stands for 'First Information Report' but actually consists of charges filed by the police. CAA is the Citizenship Amendment Act which will offer citizenship to people fleeing religious persecution from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. Muslims cannot claim persecution since these countries are Islamic. The government also proposes to set up a National Register of Citizens (NRC) which will weed out illegal immigrants who will be repatriated to their countries of origin. The government is worried about large numbers of Rohingyas who have illegally settled in the Jammu and Kashmir region. They claim to be refugees but Rohingya terrorists are fighting for Pakistani terror groups in Indian Kashmir. "When the British decided to establish two separate wings of Pakistan on either side of a partitioned India, the Rohingya began attempting to drive Buddhists out of the Muslim-dominated Mayu peninsula in northern Rakhine. They wanted the Mayu peninsula to secede and be annexed by East Pakistan," wrote Prof Brahma Chellaney. When the Myanmar army thwarted their plans they formed Jihadi groups and have been staging terrorist attacks ever since. The Rohingya are "not only a threat to Bangladesh but also to regional security", said Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. One of the provisions of the NRC Bill is that anyone born in India between 1950 and 1987 is a citizen. But how do you prove you were in India during that period? People just after independence do not have birth certificates and a poor illiterate person cannot show school certificate or ownership of property. Since Hindus and others, such as Christians and Sikhs, are protected, Muslims are afraid of being deported if they cannot prove citizenship. The government has gone on the offensive. Sixteen people died in the protests in UP, 14 of them were shot. But the police claim that, "In most cases, autopsy reports suggest that the victims died in firing by protesters." The UP government is seizing properties of protesters against the CAA, and Muslim women in UP have alleged that police forcefully entered their homes, beat them with sticks, broke all their possessions and stole money and jewellery. Accusing protesters of being vandals, the UP government is to put up posters of 'suspects' in Delhi and Kerala. Filing FIRs against thousands of unidentified people means police can pick up anyone, file any charge and that person will be fighting a court case for years to prove innocence. Seizing assets without proving guilt in a court of law is illegal, according to most lawyers. Rights come with duties, reminded the Prime Minister. True. But what about the duty of the state to protect its citizens. Dare we ask?