One person has been arrested in Meerut for allegedly raising pro-Pakistan slogans, said Prashant Kumar, ADG Meerut.
The top police officer said more arrests will be made. “Violence was instigated in parts of the district by spreading misleading information on Citizenship Amendment Act. An organisation’s name has has come up for instigating people. Most of the persons who have been arrested are involved with the organisation,” Kumar was quoted as saying by ANI.
“Nobody will be given the freedom to do anti-national activities.”Prashant Kumar, ADG Meerut to ANI
A video clip that surfaced on 20 December 2019, shot in Lisari Gate, showed SP Akhilesh N Singh talking to a few protesters and asking locals to tell those protesting against the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act 2019 to “go to Pakistan”.
“Yeh jo kaali aur neeli patti baande huye hain inse keh do Pakistan chale jao! Khaoge yahan ka, gaoge kahin aur ka! (The ones tying black and blue bands, tell them to go to Pakistan. You eat here but sing praises of another place),” he had told protesters.
“Agar kuch ho gaya toh tum log keemat chukaoge. Har ek ek aadmi ko jail mein bandh karoonga! (If something happens, you guys will pay the price. Every person will be arrested),” he said.
Many condemned the UP police for their statements.
Many others tweeted that when they tagged the UP police, their accounts were blocked.
“Until now #TrollArmy was saying: go to Pakistan. But now a UP police officer is saying: go to Pakistan. There is anarchy, hooliganism and shamelessness happening in the name of democracy,” tweeted director Vinod Kapri.
After the video went viral, Singh clarified and said, “The boys raised 'Pakistan Zindabad' slogans. So, I told them if you like it better there (Pakistan) and have so much hatred towards India, then you should go to Pakistan,” reported ANI.
Prashant Kumar, ADG Meerut defended Singh saying such a statement was made because the protesters were pelting stones and “situation was very, very tense [...] despite appeals by religious leaders,” reported ANI.
“If the situation was normal, then choice of words could have been better, but that day the situation was extremely volatile, our officers showed a lot of restraint, there was no firing by police,” he had said.
Priyanka Gandhi, general secretary of the Indian National Congress too had tweeted strongly condemning the officer’s statement.
“The Constitution of India does not allow the use of this language with any citizen, and when you are an officer in important position, then the responsibility increases. BJP has so much communal poison in the institutions that today the officers have no respect for swearing the constitution,” she tweeted.
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