Noor Mohammad was walking home after reading Namaz when he was shot. The 26 year old from UP’s Western Khalapar was first admitted to a hospital in Muzaffarnagar. They referred him to a hospital in Meerut, sixty kilometres away, where he was declared dead.

 

Like Noor, at least 18 people have lost their lives in the anti-citizenship amendment act protests that turned violent in Uttar Pradesh in the past week. One among them, was an eight year old boy. Most of the dead have two things in common. 

 

The first, that they’re muslims and second, that they were killed by “firearm injuries”.

Including UP, at least 25 deaths have been reported in the protests across the country.

 

So why has UP witnessed such a high number of deaths? Who’s responsible for the heightened tensions and violence in the state?

 

We travelled to the heartlands of UP to find out.

Guests: Shadab Moizee, The Quint

Aishwarya S Iyer, The Quint

Aditya Menon, The Quint

Editor: Shelly Walia