A few coins, four ATM cards and a picture of Lord Shiva inside a wallet kept in the inner side of his jacket miraculously shielded a police constable from a bullet fired at him during the violent anti-citizenship law protests in Uttar Pradesh's Firozabad district.
Constable Vijender Kumar was on duty on Saturday as protests unfolded in Firozabad as well as other parts of Uttar Pradesh and elsewhere in the country over the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Act.
He said, "I was on duty in my riot gear when a bullet fired by rioters hit my body. It tore past the jacket but got stuck in the wallet kept in the inner side of the jacket at chest's position. The wallet contained a few coins, four ATM cards and a picture of Lord Shiva."
Kumar told reporters that he considered himself "lucky" that the bullet missed him by a whisker and that it sure is a "rebirth" for him.
Meanwhile, senior officials said the situation in Firozabad, which has witnessed violence due to the anti-CAA stir, was in control on Sunday. Markets remained open in large parts of the district and people were buying essentials, even as police and CRPF personnel carried out flag marches in the district, the officials said.
Uttar Pradesh and several parts of the country have been witnessing protests and demonstrations by a section of people opposed to the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and a proposed creation of a pan-India National Register of Citizens (NRC).
The CAA provides for grant of citizenship to the persecuted minority Hindus, Sikhs, Christians, Jain, Buddhists and Parsis of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, who have taken refuge in India before December 31, 2014.
For leaving Muslims out of the ambit of the law, critics say the law violates the Fundamental Right of Equality under Article 14 of the Constitution and is against the secular ethos of the country, ignoring the fact that the protection of Article 14 is available only to citizens and not foreigners.
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