Scrutiny of passport applicants’ social media posts stirs up row
DEHRADUN: Uttarakhand police’s decision to scrutinise ‘social media behaviour’ of the individual in his police verification for passport or arms license has created a stir in the state with Opposition parties and legal experts criticising the move while the government terming it a right one.
The development was informed by state director general of police, Ashok Kumar on Tuesday while briefing the media on the issues discussed during the two-day annual senior police officers conference.
Kumar said, “Till now, in cases of a person putting up any anti-national posts or fake news on social media, the police used to first do his counselling asking him not to repeat it in future. A case was registered only if it was a very serious issue.”
“From now onwards, the police would scrutinise the accused’s social media behaviour to check if he is habitual of putting such anti-national posts. If it is found so, then the police would mention that in his/her police verification and may not clear it in his application for passport or arms license,” said Kumar.
Following the development, Opposition parties, including both Congress and AAP in the state termed it an “attempt to stifle the voice of dissent in democracy by BJP government.”
Pritam Singh, Congress state president, questioning the move, said, “If anyone posts something against the country then it is totally intolerable and to handle that there are provisions in law to take action against him/her. But if this is to silence the voice of dissent against the government then it is not acceptable.”
“In our democracy, everyone has a right to criticise the government and raise voice against its wrongdoings. That cannot be termed anti-national by the police,” said Singh.
Another senior Congress leader and member of All India Congress Committee national executive member of social media, Manish Khanduri, termed it “complete insanity.”
“In a democratic country, one should not even think about such a move, let alone implementing it. It is purely a move to stifle the voice of Opposition and dissent. It is nothing but complete insanity on part of the police,” said Khanduri.
AAP state president SS Kaler, too, criticised the move and blamed the BJP-led state government of “murdering democracy.”
“This is completely a move to silence any voice of dissent. The BJP government has killed the democracy in the country,” said Kaler.
The legal experts, too, raised questions on the police decision while calling it an “infringement of an individual’s freedom of expression.”
Kartikeya Gupta, senior lawyer at Uttarakhand High Court said, “This is in complete violation of one’s freedom of expression which is a fundamental right in our democracy. How can the police determine what is nationalist and what is antinational? It is the job of the courts to decide and not the police.”
The BJP-led state government, has however, supported the move saying “it is a right thing to do.” State urban development minister and government spokesperson Madan Kaushik said, “Police verification in passport and arms license application is the work of police and if it is decided to consider the applicant’s social media behaviour while clearing it then it is completely right.”
“There’s nothing wrong in not clearing someone’s police verification in passport or arms license application if he posts something against the nation,” said Kaushik.