Muzaffarnagar: Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad on Wednesday announced a country-wide protest from December 6 to press for the release of several senior leaders and members of the Dalit outfit, who are lodged in jails for their alleged role in the violence during Bharat Bandh on April 2 this year. Azad met Bhim Army’s district chief Upkar Bawra and some other Dalit leaders in Muzaffarnagar prison on Tuesday. Police have invoked stringent National Security Act (NSA) against Bawara and two other local Dalit leaders, making chance of their bails slim.The NSA allows the government to detain any person it feels could “disrupt public order”.After the April 2 violence, 42 FIRs were registered and over 50 people were booked and sent to jail in Muzzafarnagar, the epicenter of the clashes. Bhim Army alleged that most of those booked were from the Dalit community. Later, charge-sheet was filed against 37 people including former BSP district chief Kamal Gautam and Bhim Army’s Bawra for “inciting” violence in the region during the country-wide stir against the alleged dilution of the SC/ST Act on April 2.On Wednesday, while addressing a press conference, national executive member of Bhim Army, Rajan Gautam said: “On Tuesday, Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad visited Muzaffarnagar jail to meet outfit’s district chief Upkar Bawara, Shaheed Udham Singh Sena member Vikas Median and some other people who are languishing there.“After the meeting, Azad has decided that a big protest will be held across Muzaffarnagar on December 1. Later, from December 6, we will launch a nationwide stir for withdrawal of cases against Dalits in western UP.”The Dalit outfit has been claiming that “outsiders” were involved in the Bharat Bandh violence in the region, but police have booked "innocent" people. Azad on Wednesday reasserted his demand of a “fair probe” into the violence.

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