Two scooter-borne youths on Monday night pelted stones at the women staging a continuous sit-in against the new citizenship matrix since January 20 in front of Haj House at Kadru under Argora police station area in the heart of the state capital.

Mohammed Hashim, a young man who was present at the protest venue to extend his support to the agitating women, sustained injuries in the attack. He was admitted to a local private hospital for treatment.

A Kadru resident said regular attempts were being made since Monday morning to disturb the protest against the document-based citizenship verification push that includes the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the National Population Register (NPR).

“Yesterday (Monday) from 11am to 3pm the protest venue remained disturbed when a rumour spread that a pro-CAA procession would pass through the locality and the men folk of the Haj House protesters’ families reached there anticipating trouble,” the resident, who requested anonymity, pointed out.

“Around midnight two youths came on a scooter when the women were sleeping and raised some objectionable slogans. After raising slogans, they pelted stones at the gathering. One stone hit the eye of Hashim, who was at the spot to help the protesting women. Youths of the locality tried to catch the men on the scooter but they escaped,” the resident added.

Women from different communities are sitting under a pandal decorated with national flags. The district administration has provided security to the protest venue. The venue is barricaded to restrain unauthorised entry and CCTV cameras have been installed for electronic surveillance of the locality. But despite all such incident took place.

An official at Argora police station which has jurisdiction over the area said an FIR had been registered over the attack.

Contacted for comment, city superintendent of police (SP) Saurabh Kumar said attempts were on to nab the men on the scooter.

“So far we have detained a youth in this connection and he is being questioned at a police station,” the SP said.

The attack on the protest at Kadru, which draws inspiration from the Shaheen Bagh protest in the national capital, comes on the heels of multiple attacks on demonstrations in Delhi. The new citizenship matrix has sparked violence in Jharkhand too; in Lohardaga, a pro-CAA rally by Hindutva groups had come under attack on January 23 and since then the district has been under curfew and is limping back to normality.