The Delhi Police on on Sunday, 16 May, said that Arvind Gautam, Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) president of Ward 47 from the Mangolpuri area, who was responsible for putting up posters in several parts of the national capital criticising Prime Minister Narendra Modi's handling of the COVID-19 crisis, is on the run.
The posters read: "Modi ji, why did you send vaccines meant for our children, abroad?"
So far, at least 25 First Information Reports (FIR) have been filed and over 25 persons have been arrested in connection with the case.
This comes at a time when the nation is facing an acute vaccine shortage in the midst of a second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, causing an exponential increase in the number of cases and deaths. The posters took a jibe at how India had exported a large number of the vaccines as part of "vaccine diplomacy" around February.
‘Violation of DDMA Guidelines’
The accused is absconding, police said.
"No details of the printing press/publisher were mentioned on these posters... The accused persons disclosed during interrogation that Arvind Gautam had sent an order on WhatsApp to Rahul...and ₹ 9,000 for printing and affixing these posters/hoarding," read the statement from the police.
Twenty-six-year-old Rahul, who runs a graphic designing shop, had digitally printed the posters upon Gautam's request and A Rajesh Sharma, who owns Addline printing press, has been held for printing the posters.
"The printer did not mention the name of the press in the footnote of the printed material and violated DDMA guidelines for running the press in this lockdown period,” the statement read.
The case was filed on 12 May under the Prevention of Defacement of Public Property Act, 2007.
Opposition Slams Centre
The case has triggered several leaders to criticise the government for the move.
Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi, and Jairam Ramesh, among others, tweeted the text of the poster and challenged the government to arrest them.
Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra shared the poster and listed a few questions for the Delhi Police, “How is commissioning a poster that asks a valid question a crime? How is putting it up a crime? How is asking a question “against the PM”? And even if it is, so what? #StandUpDontCrawl”
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