Two men were arrested in Uttarakhand’s Udham Singh Nagar Sunday night after one of them allegedly raised slogans hailing Pakistan and the other made a video of it and released it on social media which was widely shared, police said on Monday.
Police said Nadeem (22) raised ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ slogans while Sanjeet (21) shot the video and released it on social media. Both are said to be locals.
Umesh Malik, officer in-charge of Kichha police station in Udham Singh Nagar said Rudrapur’s MLA Rajkumar Thukral filed a complaint along with the video clip showing Shera alias Nadeem raising pro-Pakistan slogans on Sunday evening. Malik said Nadeem’s friend Sanjay alias Sanjeet made a video of it on his mobile phone and uploaded it on social media.
“On Sunday night we arrested both the accused. We have filed a case under section 153B of the Indian Penal Code,” Malik said.
According to Section 153B of IPC that relates to ‘imputations, assertions prejudicial to national integration’, “whoever, by words either spoken or written or by signs or by visible representations or otherwise makes or publishes any imputation that any class of persons cannot, by reason of their being members of any religious, racial, language or regional group or caste or community, bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of India as by law established or uphold the sovereignty and integrity of India, or accused if convicted under this section, could be imprisoned for three years”.
The arrests came amid the tense situation in the country following the terror attack on a CRPF convoy in Pulwama last week which killed 40 troopers.
On Saturday, a Kashmiri student was arrested in Dehradun on Saturday for allegedly posting “insulting and provocative” comments against the armed forces personnel following the Pulwama attack.
This is the third such incident in Kumaon region. On Saturday, Nainital police arrested 38-year-old Mohammad Khushnod in Bhimtal after he allegedly made an objectionable remark against India while BJP activists and locals were burning an effigy of Pakistan and holding a protest against the terrorist attack on CRPF personnel in south Kashmir.
Last month Nainital Police filed an FIR against a Kashmiri student at an educational institute in Bhimtal for allegedly posting derogatory remarks against India on Facebook while commenting on a poster of movie Uri-The Surgical Strike.
First Published: Feb 18, 2019 18:03 IST
Source: HindustanTimes