In 2019, in many places in the country, anti CAA protests were held. In Uttar Pradesh too in many places protests were held. During these protests, a lot of government properties were damaged. UP government’s official data showed that the total property damaged during the CAA protests was worth Rs. 1.9 crore. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had said on 19th December 2019, that those involved in the violence will have to pay for the damage to public properties as many faces were identified through the video footage. In addition to the recoveries, posters of alleged rioters were also pasted at various places in the state. Recovery notices were issued against 875 people and they were supposed to pay nearly Rs. 2 crores as a fine. A police official had said that in 16 cases, recovery amount of Rs. 22.4 lakh has already been collected from the defaulters or by seizing their properties. 

Then one Parwaiz Arif Titu, seeking the quashing of recovery notices sent to alleged protesters in UP, had filed a plea in the supreme court. The petitioner said the notices had been issued in an "arbitrary manner," including against a person who had died years ago and those who had not been booked under any criminal offense. The Supreme Court on 11th February had rebuked the Uttar Pradesh government for the notices, saying the proceedings were opposite to the law laid down by the SC. On 18th February, the Supreme Court then directed the UP government to refund all recoveries made from anti-CAA protesters. Notably, the government also informed the court that it has also decided to withdraw all the recovery notices issued to the protesters for damaging public property. KK Awasthi, Uttar Pradesh’s Sambhal District’s Assistant District Magistrate, said that the process to return the fine has been initiated and will be completed soon.

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