BJP leader ‘fined’ `23.76L for staging protest in MP
In perhaps first of its kind instance in the country, the Madhya Pradesh police has sought recovery of `23.76 lakh from a BJP leader towards expenses incurred for making security arrangement during a demonstration staged by him here without taking permission from authorities concerned.
In a letter to Bhopal district collector, SP (police headquarters) Mithilesh Shukla said necessary steps should be initiated to recover the amount from former BJP MLA Surendra Nath Singh for staging a protest along with supporters in front of the chief minister’s official residence on August 20, without permission.
“The special branch informed that ex-MLA Mr Singh along with his followers were going to stage protest at CM House, Shyamla Hills, Raj Bhawan, Vallabh Bhawan, DGP residence at 74 Bungalows and commissioner’s house at Char Imli simultaneously.
No permission was sought by him or his supporters for it. As it led to law and order issues, a heavy police force had to be deployed to control the situation. This has caused an unnecessary expenditure of around `23.76 lakh. Besides, the routine work (administrative, departmental and judicial) of city police was affected”, the letter said. Mr Singh was leading a protest march here on August 20 to oppose the local administration’s move to evict roadside vendors. The march had culminated at chief minister’s official residence.
Mr Singh strongly protested the move to recover `23.76 lakh from him describing it as “jizya (tax imposed on nonMuslims by an Islam state)”. He declared to defy the order, saying, “I will stage such protests again and again in future”.
Former CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan described it a move by Kamal Nath government to gag the Opposition from raising the issues of people.
“It amounts to throttling democracy”, he added.
Congress spokesman here Narendra Saluja however defended the police action, saying, “A move undertaken to teach erring people a lesson should be hailed even if it was implemented for the first time”.