Madras High Court lawyers form human chain to protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019

Around 250 lawyers reportedly formed a human chain on Friday in and around the Madras High Court premises to register their protest to the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019.

As part of the demonstration, the lawyers were also seen reading out from the Constitution of India, as reported for the New Indian Express.

The demonstration saw the participation of several senior lawyers of the Madras Bar including Senior Advocates Nalini Chidambaram, R Vaigai and Advocate NGR Prasad.

The demonstration came weeks after a Division Bench of the Madras High Court held a special sitting to reiterate that peaceful protests cannot be curbed in a democracy.

The Friday protests also took place close in the heels of reports that the police detained protestors, including some lawyers, after they drew kolams (rangolis) in protest of the Citizenship Amendment Act last week. The police released them a few hours after their arrest.

The police reportedly clarified later that their arrest was prompted by a dispute that arose between the protestors and a resident.

All the same, the police also told the media that one of the protestors is now being probed for her links to Pakistan, citing an article concerning discrimination faced by religious minority that she had written in 2016 for a Pakistan-based advocacy group.