LUCKNOW: Dalit thinker and writer Kanwal Bharti
was on Tuesday arrested by the police in Rampur district for an alleged
provocative post on Facebook criticizing Uttar Pradesh government and
senior minister Azam Khan on the issue of suspension of IAS officer Durga Sakthi Nagpal.
Bharti was arrested on a complaint filed by an aide of Azam Khan but was later released on bail. The chief judicial magistrate did not find any merit in the charges levelled against him.
Bharti in his post pointed out, "An old madrassa was demolished in Rampur. The coordinator of the madrassa was arrested and put in jail for opposing the move. The Akhilesh government did not suspend any officer because Azam Khan rules the district, not Akhilesh."
Bharti was charged with instigating and hurting communal feelings. He was produced before the court of chief judicial magistrate who granted him bail saying that there is no merit in the case.
Bharti, when contacted, described his arrest as an assault on freedom of expression. He said that he was arrested at around 8 in the morning. "The police have confiscated my computer and books have been confiscated. A lot of my work is stored in the computer. The police have not mentioned the items in the FIR. I don't know whether I will get them back. Several writers and intellectuals are coming to meet me on Wednesday, then we will decide the future course of action," he said.
Regarding demolition of the madrassa, Bharti said that it is situated near Azam Khan's house and was demolished on July 23 during the month of Ramzan. He said that the coordinator of the madrassa was arrested for opposing the demolition. However, he added, no action was taken against any officer. He also said that there was no communal tension over the incident in the area. "I simply posted the entire episode on the Facebook to make people aware of the facts," he said.
Bharti had compared the demolition of the madrassa with that of the boundary wall of a mosque in Kadilpur village of Gautam Budh Nagar. Durga as sub-divisional magistrate (Sadar) of Gautam Budh Nagar district had allegedly got the wall demolished on July 27. Though the wall was being built on public land in violation of the Supreme Court order, the state government said that Durga was put under suspension because her action led to communal tension in the area.
However, Durga was on the hitlist of the mining mafia of the area as she had cracked whip on illegal sand mining.
SP leader and chairperson of UP agro Narendra Bhati, who enjoys status of a minister and is Lok Sabha candidate of Samajwadi Party from Gautam Budh Nagar, was caught on camera bragging about how he got Durga suspended in just 41 minutes.
Bharti was arrested on a complaint filed by an aide of Azam Khan but was later released on bail. The chief judicial magistrate did not find any merit in the charges levelled against him.
Bharti in his post pointed out, "An old madrassa was demolished in Rampur. The coordinator of the madrassa was arrested and put in jail for opposing the move. The Akhilesh government did not suspend any officer because Azam Khan rules the district, not Akhilesh."
Bharti was charged with instigating and hurting communal feelings. He was produced before the court of chief judicial magistrate who granted him bail saying that there is no merit in the case.
Bharti, when contacted, described his arrest as an assault on freedom of expression. He said that he was arrested at around 8 in the morning. "The police have confiscated my computer and books have been confiscated. A lot of my work is stored in the computer. The police have not mentioned the items in the FIR. I don't know whether I will get them back. Several writers and intellectuals are coming to meet me on Wednesday, then we will decide the future course of action," he said.
Regarding demolition of the madrassa, Bharti said that it is situated near Azam Khan's house and was demolished on July 23 during the month of Ramzan. He said that the coordinator of the madrassa was arrested for opposing the demolition. However, he added, no action was taken against any officer. He also said that there was no communal tension over the incident in the area. "I simply posted the entire episode on the Facebook to make people aware of the facts," he said.
Bharti had compared the demolition of the madrassa with that of the boundary wall of a mosque in Kadilpur village of Gautam Budh Nagar. Durga as sub-divisional magistrate (Sadar) of Gautam Budh Nagar district had allegedly got the wall demolished on July 27. Though the wall was being built on public land in violation of the Supreme Court order, the state government said that Durga was put under suspension because her action led to communal tension in the area.
However, Durga was on the hitlist of the mining mafia of the area as she had cracked whip on illegal sand mining.
SP leader and chairperson of UP agro Narendra Bhati, who enjoys status of a minister and is Lok Sabha candidate of Samajwadi Party from Gautam Budh Nagar, was caught on camera bragging about how he got Durga suspended in just 41 minutes.
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