Poster war: Two Cong workers arrested
LUCKNOW: The police on Sunday arrested two Congress workers for allegedly putting up posters in the city on Friday/Saturday night, demanding recovery of damages from top BJP leaders who had been named accused for rioting in Uttar Pradesh some years back.
Assistant commissioner of police (ACP), Hazratganj, Abhay Mishra confirmed that two Congress workers -- Sudhanshu Bajpai and Ashwani (he goes by one name) – had been arrested and were sent to judicial custody by the remand magistrate. He said Bajpai’s name was mentioned on the posters while Ashwani’s named surfaced during investigation. Mishra said cops were trying to trace the other people involved in the conspiracy behind putting up the posters. He said the police also raided the printing press where the posters were printed but it was found closed. “We are searching for the printing press owner,” he said.
Reacting to the development, Zeeshan Haider, a UP Congress spokesperson, said: “It is wrong to take an action against them. What wrong did they do? They did exactly what the government did. If the government can put up hoardings with pictures of accused (of vandalism), then the Congress workers, too, could put up posters of those accused in criminal cases.”
Another senior Lucknow police official said the posters were put up at three places -- near the state BJP headquarters, Ambedkar’s statue on Hazratganj crossing and on Lucknow University road.
He said two separate FIRs were registered at Hazratganj and Hasanganj police stations as the BJP headquarters and Hazratganj crossing come under Hazratganj police station limits while Lucknow University road falls under Hasanganj police station limits.
“In Hazratganj police station, the FIR was lodged against two Congress workers -- Sudhanshu Bajpai and Lallu Kannuajia -- as well as the owner of printing press where the posters were printed and some other unknown people. Ashwani’s name surfaced during investigation after the FIRs were filed.
“The FIR was lodged under IPC section 500 for defamation, 505 (1) for statement conducing public mischief and 153-A for promoting enmity between two groups on grounds on religion, race and caste. Besides, section 3 of Public Property Damage Prevention Act and 3/12 of Press Act were imposed against them,” Mishra stated. He said a similar FIR was registered at Hasanganj police station.
The Congressmen allegedly put up the posters a few hours after the state cabinet approved an ordinance to enact a law providing for recovery of damages to public and private property during ‘illegal’ demonstrations and protests. The posters were put up on Friday/Saturday night and police removed them on Saturday morning.
The top headline of the posters read “Janta maange jabab, in dangaiyon se vasuli kab” and had pictures of chief minister Yogi Adityanath on one side and deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya on the other. It had been pointed out on the posters that the two leaders, in their election affidavits, had admitted that cases of rioting had been registered against them.
At the bottom, the banners carried pictures of UP minister Suresh Rana, BJP MLAs Sangeet Som and Umesh Malik, BJP MP Sanjiv Balyan and Sadhvi Prachi and mentioned them as accused of the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots. It also had name of BJP MLA Radha Mohan Das Agarwal as an accused of Gorakhpur riots though the picture of union minister Radha Mohan Singh had been placed there instead of picture of Agarwal.