The Lucknow police have booked around 125-130 women for criminal conspiracy after they allegedly violated prohibitory orders and staged a sit-in against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.
The FIR lodged at Gomti Nagar police station names five persons, while 100-125 have been listed as unidentified.
The FIR invokes Sections 120 B (criminal conspiracy), 145 (joining or continuing in unlawful assembly, knowing it has been commanded to disperse) and 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) of the Indian Penal Code.
Around 120-125 women gathered at a dargah near a graveyard in Ujariyaon village on January 20, holding banners against the CAA and the NRC, police said.
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The protesters allegedly turned aggressive and started to call other women to join their protest when told to disperse, the police said, adding that the assembly violated Section 143 of CrPC and that they did not have prior permission.
The protesters named in the FIR were going from house to house and instigating women to join the sit-in, the FIR alleged.
This is the fourth such FIR registered by police against protesters in Lucknow. The first three FIRs relate to the ongoing protest at the Hussainabad Clocktower.
The police have named around two dozen persons in the complaints, while more than 135 are unidentified protesters. Most of those named in the FIRs are women and include Sumaiya Rana and Fauzia Rana, daughters of well-known Urdu poet Munawwar Rana, a Sahitya Akademi Award winner.
Meanwhile, women in Rae Bareli have started a similar sit-in against the CAA. On Thursday night, the district magistrate and police chief appealed to the women to end their protest and led a foot march in areas with mixed population.
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