On 11 December 2019 Parliament passed the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), which opens a path to citizenship for Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian migrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. Protests began in Assam the same day and spread nationwide after police entered Jamia Millia Islamia and Aligarh Muslim University on 15 December. At least 25 people died that month, 18 in Uttar Pradesh, per a list by The Wire and The News Minute. The Shaheen Bagh sit-in in Delhi was cleared on 24 March 2020 under the Covid lockdown.
What the law does, and why it was contested
The CAA amends the Citizenship Act, 1955. Members of six named communities from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan who entered India on or before 31 December 2014 are no longer treated as "illegal migrants" and may apply for citizenship. Certain areas of the Northeast are exempted Supreme Court Observer. The Rajya Sabha passed it 125 to 99 on 11 December PTI via Tribune.
Two different objections drove the protests. In Assam, groups feared the law would legitimise post-1971 migrants, mostly Hindus from Bangladesh, and undo the Assam Accord's 1971 cut-off Deccan Herald. Elsewhere, critics said the law discriminated against Muslims. Lawyers quoted by Al Jazeera said it breached Articles 14 and 15 Al Jazeera.
The fear was sharpest when the CAA was read together with a proposed nationwide National Register of Citizens (NRC). Petitioners argue that a non-Muslim left off an NRC could use the CAA, but a Muslim could not SCO. Home Minister Amit Shah had told the Rajya Sabha on 20 November 2019 that the NRC would be carried out across India Factly.
The government's case for the CAA
Government's position Replying to the Rajya Sabha debate, Shah said the law gave citizenship to minorities persecuted in three neighbouring countries and took away nobody's citizenship. He said Muslims from other countries could still apply under existing rules, and that 566 Muslims had been given citizenship PTI via Tribune.
Indian Muslims are citizens of the country and will remain so. Citizenship of Indian Muslims is not being taken away. Citizenship Bill is not to snatch anyone's Indian citizenship. Muslims have no need to fear or worry.
Amit Shah, Rajya Sabha, 11 December 2019 (PTI)
At Delhi's Ramlila Maidan on 22 December, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said: "Since 2014, there has been no discussion on NRC anywhere. Only after the SC order, this exercise was done for Assam. Lies are being spread." He blamed the Congress and "Urban Naxals" TNM. Fact-checkers rated the NRC remark misleading, citing Shah's November statement in Parliament Factly.
In the Supreme Court the Centre has argued that the CAA is "a specific amendment which seeks to tackle a specific problem", religious persecution "in light of the undisputable theocratic constitutional position in the specified countries" LawBeat. Its defence is that the law does not affect any Indian citizen, and that leaving some groups out of a concession does not by itself violate Article 14 LiveLaw.
Assam: curfew, firing and a nine-day internet cut
Assam cut mobile internet on the evening of 11 December Deccan Herald. On 12 December crowds defied a curfew in Guwahati, troops were deployed, and police fired bullets and tear gas. The Gauhati Medical College Hospital superintendent said two people had died of gunshot wounds and 11 were injured Al Jazeera, citing Reuters.
Protesters attacked the police chief's convoy and burnt the homes of two BJP legislators. Curfew spread to four more districts Deccan Herald. Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal said Assamese rights would be protected under Clause VI of the Assam Accord.
The death toll in Assam is disputed. Claim · TNM/The Wire Five people died, four after police firing and one, a truck driver, when his vehicle was set on fire at a roadblock TNM. Government's position On 2 March 2020 the state told the Assembly that three people died in police firing and two were killed by "miscreants"; it reported 430 cases and 573 arrests EastMojo. The All Assam Students' Union (AASU) says all five died in police firing, and two of them were minors Sentinel.
On 19 December the Gauhati High Court ordered mobile internet restored, saying a shutdown "virtually amounts to bringing life to a grinding halt" when the original emergency no longer subsists. Service returned on 20 December, after nine days Deccan Herald.
15 December: Jamia Millia Islamia and AMU
On 15 December a march near Jamia Millia Islamia in south Delhi was stopped by police near Mathura Road and New Friends Colony. Police said protesters torched four DTC buses and two motorbikes, and police then entered the campus PTI via Deccan Herald.
University and students' account
The university told the HRD Ministry that police entered through Gates 4 and 7 "breaking the lock, beating the guards", lobbed tear gas into the library reading room and beat students studying there. It said one student lost the sight of an eye Daily Star, citing PTI. The Wire reported over a hundred students were injured. A year later its complaint had not been registered as an FIR The Wire.
Delhi Police account
DCP Chinmoy Biswal said a crowd of 1,500 to 2,000 burnt buses and that stones were thrown from inside the campus. "We entered the campus only to check these places from where stones were being pelted," he said, adding that police fired no bullets PTI The Quint. In the High Court in 2020 the police said entry and "proportionate force" were justified LiveLaw.
That night police and Rapid Action Force personnel entered Aligarh Muslim University. The Allahabad High Court ordered the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to investigate. Acting on its report, which recommended action against "delinquent" policemen and compensation, the court in February 2020 ordered the UP and CRPF chiefs to act against those involved Scroll. Critics noted the NHRC also found police had to "apply force" to "save the city from communal violence" The Wire.
19 and 20 December: a nationwide day of protest
On 19 December, with Section 144 in force in several cities, telecom companies in Delhi shut mobile services for about four hours on police orders and over 1,200 people were detained near the Red Fort Deccan Herald Scroll. In Bengaluru at least 200 people, including historian Ramachandra Guha, were detained at Town Hall and Mysore Bank Circle TNM.
The Karnataka High Court later held the Bengaluru Section 144 order of 18 December "illegal", though it had by then "worked itself out" LiveLaw. The state had called it a precaution Scroll.
Mangaluru: two killed in police firing
In Mangaluru on 19 December thousands defied Section 144 and clashes broke out with police. Police opened fire, and Abdul Jaleel, 49, and Nausheen, 23, died of bullet wounds TNM. Curfew was imposed and mobile internet suspended for 48 hours Scroll.
Claim · Police and state Commissioner P S Harsha called it a "legitimate use of force" after stone-pelting and an attempt to set fire to a police station TNM. Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa withdrew a Rs 10 lakh ex gratia, saying "giving criminals ex-gratia is an unpardonable crime" Scroll. Claim · Families Relatives say neither man was part of the protest; police named both in an FIR Maktoob.
Granting bail to 21 accused in February 2020, the Karnataka High Court said "a deliberate attempt has been made to fabricate evidence" Scroll. The state appealed, saying 56 policemen were injured; the Supreme Court granted bail but said the High Court's observations "shall not affect the trial" TNM.
Uttar Pradesh: the deadliest state
On 19 and 20 December violence spread across the state: deaths were reported in at least seven districts, and internet was cut in 21 of 75 Tribune. Tallies differ: India Today counted 18 dead and The Indian Express 16, as cited by TNM; an eight-year-old died in a stampede in Varanasi TNM. Scroll later counted 19 in UP Scroll.
Families' and protesters' account
Families said police shot their relatives, some of them bystanders. The father of one man killed in Bijnor told ThePrint, "He went out only to buy some milk." A post-mortem on a Lucknow victim reportedly found a .32 bore gunshot wound, and TNM noted a video that contradicted the claim that police fired no bullets TNM Tribune.
Police and government account
DGP O P Singh denied police firing, said the deaths may have resulted from "cross-firing", and blamed outsiders. Police said 405 empty cartridges fired by protesters were recovered and most of the dead were hit by country-made bullets Tribune TNM, citing India Today. By 24 December a senior Bijnor officer admitted that one man was killed by a bullet a policeman fired in "self-defence" Deccan Herald.
Recovery notices, posters and the 2022 refund order
On 19 December Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said rioters "have been captured in video and CCTV footage. We will take 'badla' (revenge) on them", by auctioning their property The Quint, citing IANS. In all, 274 notices were issued, 95 of them in Lucknow Deccan Herald.
In March 2020 Lucknow put up hoardings with the names, photographs and addresses of 53 accused. On 9 March the Allahabad High Court ordered them removed as an "unwarranted interference in privacy" Scroll.
In February 2022 the Supreme Court said the notices ignored its 2009 guidelines. "You have become complainant; you have become witness; you have become prosecutor," the bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud and Surya Kant told the state Deccan Herald. The state withdrew all 274 notices, and on 18 February the court ordered it to refund money recovered, while allowing fresh action through claims tribunals under the state's new recovery law Tribune Scroll. Within days some received Claims Tribunal notices The Wire.
Shaheen Bagh and the Supreme Court interlocutors
From 15 December a sit-in largely led by women, including the elderly "dadis", blocked the Kalindi Kunj-Shaheen Bagh road Tribune. On 17 February 2020 Justices S K Kaul and K M Joseph appointed senior advocate Sanjay Hegde and advocate Sadhana Ramachandran to persuade protesters to move LiveLaw.
"The Supreme Court has upheld your right to protest. But then other citizens also have their rights," Ramachandran told the crowd on 19 February Tribune. Protesters told them they would leave once the CAA was repealed Deccan Herald.
On 30 January a gunman, whom police were checking for juvenile status, shot and injured a student at a Jamia march PTI via Tribune. On 1 February a man fired shots at the Shaheen Bagh site, and on 22 March petrol bombs were thrown there LiveLaw.
In late February communal violence broke out in Northeast Delhi; Reuters later counted at least 78 deaths linked to the CAA protests nationwide, many in those clashes Reuters via Gulf News. That violence is covered separately in the Northeast Delhi riots of 2020.
Pro-CAA rallies
The BJP ran a 5 to 15 January 2020 campaign to "bring about awareness" of the law, aiming to reach three crore families TNM.
At a pro-CAA rally in Lucknow on 21 January, Shah said: "Whoever has to oppose can oppose the Act, it is not going to be revoked." He said, "If any clause of the CAA takes away the citizenship of anyone, including Muslims, they can tell me." Akhilesh Yadav said the BJP "wants to crush people with the road roller of its majority" PTI via Gomantak Times.
How the sit-ins ended
After the Janata Curfew of 22 March, protesters cut the Shaheen Bagh sit-in to five women TNM. On 24 March, the 101st day, police cleared the site. "It is a dangerous environment, with this coronavirus, we urged them to leave," Joint Commissioner D C Srivastava said. Nine people were detained, and television showed bulldozers removing tents Reuters via Gulf News.
The interlocutors said the pandemic "must receive priority" and that the remaining protesters had been dispersed "with minimal force" LiveLaw. Protesters told the court the police action was high-handed LiveLaw.
Timeline
Bill passed, Assam erupts
Rajya Sabha passes the bill; Assam cuts mobile internet, and police fire on curfew-defying crowds in Guwahati Al Jazeera.
Jamia, AMU, Shaheen Bagh
Police enter both campuses; the Shaheen Bagh sit-in begins.
Nationwide protests
Delhi shutdown and detentions, Mangaluru firing, deaths across UP.
Northeast Delhi violence
Communal clashes in Delhi; see the separate page.
Shaheen Bagh cleared
Police clear the site on day 101 under the lockdown.
Deaths in December 2019 by state, per the TNM/The Wire list
Outcome
- Deaths: 25 in December 2019 on the TNM/Wire list; at least 28 by Scroll's March 2020 count Scroll.
- Arrests: 705 in UP by late December Tribune; 573 in Assam by March 2020 EastMojo.
- Jamia case: A trial court discharged Sharjeel Imam, Safoora Zargar, Asif Iqbal Tanha and eight others in February 2023; on 28 March 2023 the Delhi High Court framed charges against nine, citing video of them "in the first line of the mob" Scroll.
- Police accountability: By December 2020 no police officer had been identified in the probe into police conduct at Jamia The Wire. In January 2024 police told the Delhi High Court that "none of the victims are presently traceable" IANS via TNM.
- Right to protest: On 7 October 2020 the Supreme Court ruled that "public ways and public spaces cannot be occupied in such a manner and that too indefinitely" Deccan Herald.
- The law: Not withdrawn. Rules were notified on 11 March 2024, setting off a new round of protests in Assam.
What is still pending
More than 200 petitions, led by the Indian Union Muslim League's, still challenge the law. Notices issued in January 2020 led to no hearing LawBeat. On 19 February 2026 a bench led by Chief Justice Surya Kant scheduled final hearings for 5 to 12 May 2026, Assam and Tripura cases separately ETV Bharat. This record found no report of a judgment as of 12 October 2026.
A year after the Assam deaths, AASU said the state had not instituted the judicial inquiry it demanded Sentinel.
Questions people ask
Why did people protest against the CAA?
Critics said it excluded Muslims from a citizenship route, a fear sharpened by a proposed nationwide NRC. In Assam, protesters said it would legitimise post-1971 migrants against the Assam Accord.
How many people died in the anti-CAA protests?
The Wire and TNM listed 25 deaths in December 2019: 18 in UP, 5 in Assam and 2 in Mangaluru. Reuters counted at least 78 by March 2020, including the Northeast Delhi violence.
Has the Supreme Court decided the CAA case?
No judgment had been reported by 12 October 2026. Final hearings were scheduled for May 2026.
Sources
- Al Jazeera: Citizenship Bill: Tensions rise as protests flare in Assam, 12 Dec 2019
- The News Minute (from The Wire): 25 people were killed during anti-CAA protests, Dec 2019
- Tribune/PTI: RS okays Citizenship Bill after fiery debate, 11 Dec 2019
- Supreme Court Observer: Constitutionality of the Citizenship Amendment Act
- Factly: Statements made on NRC, a fact-check, 31 Dec 2019
- LawBeat: CAA challenge, Supreme Court hearing begins May 5, 19 Feb 2026
- LiveLaw: Supreme Court to start hearing CAA petitions from May 5, 19 Feb 2026
- ETV Bharat: SC to begin final hearing in over 200 CAA pleas on May 5, 19 Feb 2026
- Deccan Herald: CAB protest, three killed, Assam remains volatile, 12 Dec 2019
- Deccan Herald: High Court order to restore mobile internet in Assam, 19 Dec 2019
- Deccan Herald: Mobile internet back in Assam after 9 days, 20 Dec 2019
- EastMojo: How many died in police firing during Assam CAA stir? 3, says govt, 2 Mar 2020
- Sentinel Assam: Judicial probe must into death of five anti-CAA martyrs, AASU, Dec 2020
- Deccan Herald/PTI: Some at Jamia protest came prepared for arson, police, 15 Dec 2019
- The Quint: Cops contained Jamia violence, tear gas use quite lawful, DCP, 16 Dec 2019
- The Daily Star: Jamia university requests judicial enquiry over violence on campus, Dec 2019
- The Wire: No point in pursuing FIR anymore, Jamia VC says, 15 Dec 2020
- LiveLaw: Jamia violence, Delhi Police tells HC entry justified, 14 Aug 2020
- Scroll: AMU violence, court orders UP police chief to act, 24 Feb 2020
- The Wire: A year on, NHRC's probes on police violence in AMU and Jamia, 22 Dec 2020
- Deccan Herald: Mobile services down for hours in Delhi, 19 Dec 2019
- Scroll: Plea against Delhi internet shutdown dismissed, 24 Dec 2019
- TNM: Ramachandra Guha detained at Bengaluru's Town Hall, 19 Dec 2019
- LiveLaw: Section 144 order in Bengaluru illegal, Karnataka HC, 13 Feb 2020
- Scroll: Anti-CAA protests in Bengaluru curtailed illegally, says Karnataka HC, 13 Feb 2020
- Scroll: Yediyurappa withdraws ex gratia to Mangaluru victims, 25 Dec 2019
- Maktoob: Remembering two killed by Mangaluru police, 19 Dec 2020
- Scroll: Mangaluru police firing, commissioner among 176 summoned by inquiry panel, 21 Feb 2020
- TNM: Mangaluru anti-CAA stir violence, 21 get bail, Sept 2020
- Tribune: Anti-CAA stir, death toll in UP violence rises to 16, Dec 2019
- Deccan Herald: UP police admit to firing at anti-CAA protesters, 24 Dec 2019
- The Quint: UP govt starts process to seize rioters' property, 22 Dec 2019
- Scroll: Allahabad HC orders removal of posters with protesters' addresses, 9 Mar 2020
- Deccan Herald: UP withdraws notices to anti-CAA protesters, 18 Feb 2022
- Tribune: UP told to return money recovered from anti-CAA protesters, 19 Feb 2022
- Scroll: UP withdraws recovery notices against 274 alleged protesters, 18 Feb 2022
- The Wire: Yogi govt slaps anti-CAA protesters with Claims Tribunal notices, Feb 2022
- LiveLaw: Public places cannot be occupied indefinitely, Supreme Court on Shaheen Bagh, 7 Oct 2020
- Deccan Herald: Shaheen Bagh verdict, 7 Oct 2020
- Tribune: SC upheld right to protest but other citizens also have rights, mediators tell Shaheen Bagh, 19 Feb 2020
- Deccan Herald: SC interlocutors meet Shaheen Bagh protesters, 19 Feb 2020
- LiveLaw: Covid-19 must receive priority, say SC interlocutors after clearance of Shaheen Bagh, 24 Mar 2020
- Tribune/PTI: Jamia student injured as man fires at anti-CAA protesters, 30 Jan 2020
- TNM: Shaheen Bagh cleared by police amid Covid-19 lockdown, 24 Mar 2020
- Gulf News/Reuters: India police clear out Shaheen Bagh protests citing coronavirus, 24 Mar 2020
- TNM: BJP to hold pro-CAA rallies across the country in January, Dec 2019
- Gomantak Times/PTI: CAA not to be withdrawn, those protesting can continue, says Shah, 21 Jan 2020
- Scroll: Jamia violence, Delhi HC sets aside discharge order of Sharjeel Imam, 10 others, 28 Mar 2023
- TNM/IANS: Delhi HC seeks govt response on NHRC recommendations in Jamia violence, 23 Jan 2024