'Go to Pakistan': Meerut cop heard saying in anti-CAA protest video
Amid raging protests and violence over the amended citizenship law (CAA) in Uttar Pradesh, a senior police officer in Meerut has been filmed on camera making communal comments and asking the local residents to tell protesters to “go to Pakistan”.
Amid raging protests and violence over the amended citizenship law (CAA) in Uttar Pradesh, a senior police officer in Meerut was caught on camera making communal comments and asking the local residents to tell protesters to “go to Pakistan”.
The incident is reported to be of December 20 when four people died during the protests there.
Check this out SP city Meerut UP sending people to Pakistan trying to understand he is really a public servant @ReallySwara @RanaAyyub @anuragkashyap72 @anubhavsinha @navinjournalist @umashankarsingh #CAA_NRCProtests #CAAAgainstConstitution @farah17khan pic.twitter.com/QWvGIcf5n6
— jugnu khan (@thejugnukhan) December 26, 2019
Akhilesh Singh, Superintendent of Police (SP), Meerut, in the video shot in Lisari Gate can be heard talking to a group of men saying, “Kahan jaoge? Is gali ko theek kar doonga (Where will you go? I will sort out this lane).” The police were reportedly chasing four protesters in the lane when the top cop was recorded warning the few muslim men around him.
“The ones tying black and yellow bands, tell them to go to Pakistan. You eat here but sing praises of another place. This lane is now familiar to me. And once I remember, I can even reach your grandmother,” continued the police officer.
Singh was accompanied by other security personnel in whose presence he further warned the locals telling them that they would pay the price if anything happens. “Every man from each house will be arrested,” the official can be heard saying.
Also Read: Congress to provide legal aid for CAA protesters in UP
Indian Express has reported that when it sought his reaction over the remark he responded by saying that “the context is that anti-social elements were making pro-Pakistan statements”.
“We had come to the area to see who all were making pro-Pakistan statements. When we arrived with force, they had run away. We found out that there were 3-4 such people who wanted to create an issue. We had discussions with locals.”
Prashant Kumar, Director General of Police told ANI that stones were thrown at police and that people in the area were shouting anti-India slogans. “Situation was very very tense,” he claimed. “PFI [Popular Front of India] pamphlets were being distributed. This was despite all appeals, including by religious leaders.”
“If the situation was normal then the choice of words could have been better, but that day the situation was extremely volatile, our officers showed a lot of restraint, and there was no firing by the police,” he added.
Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi reacting to the video tweeted saying, BJP is making the ‘institutions communal’.
भारत का संविधान किसी भी नागरिक के साथ इस भाषा के प्रयोग की इजाजत नहीं देता और जब आप अहम पद पर बैठे अधिकारी हैं तब तो जिम्मेदारी और बढ़ जाती है।
भाजपा ने संस्थाओं में इस कदर साम्प्रदायिक जहर घोला है कि आज अफसरों को संविधान की कसम की कोई कद्र ही नहीं है pic.twitter.com/aR1L6bgSbG
— Priyanka Gandhi Vadra (@priyankagandhi) December 28, 2019
Meerut has registered the highest number of deaths across Uttar Pradesh during clashes between the police and protesters last week. At least 26 people have died in the protests – 19 of them in Uttar Pradesh.
The Uttar Pradesh government has sent notices to 28 people, including an embroidery worker and a hawker of spices, who are already in custody, seeking damages caused due to their actions during the recent anti-CAA protests.
(With input from agencies.)
