A district court lawyer in Kanpur, Abdul Hannan, was arrested on charges of sedition after he retweeted a video of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and called him a terrorist, reported The Indian Express.
Ajay Seth, Station House Office (SHO) of Kalyanpur police station said, “We have registered an FIR against the person. He has been arrested and sent to jail after being produced before the court.”
Hannan had commented on a tweet by State Information Department’s media advisor Shalabh Mani Tripathi on Saturday which contained a video of Adityanath’s Vidhan Sabha speech supporting the lathi charge on the anti-CAA-NPR-NRC protesters. His caption read, “Tum kagaz nahi dikhaoge, aur danga bhi failaoge, to hum lathi bhi chalvayenge, gharbaar bhi bikvayenge… aur haan poster bhi lagwayenge (You will not show the papers and will also participate in riots, then we will cane charge, auction your houses and put up posters).
तुम काग़ज़ नहीं दिखाओगे, और दंगा भी फैलाओगे, तो हम लाठी भी चलवाएँगे, घरबार भी बिकवाएंगे, और हाँ … पोस्टर भी लगवाएँगे ??? pic.twitter.com/9HZh58158j
— Shalabh Mani Tripathi (@shalabhmani) March 13, 2020
Hannan had retweeted the above post by Tripathi by calling Adityanath a terrorist, and in another tweet announced that he would be providing free legal help to protesters while requesting all “constitution lovers” to follow him and share his tweet.
सी. ए. ए . प्रोटेस्ट में झूठे फसाए गए हर धर्म के भाई-बहनों को फ्री कानूनी सेवाएँ दे रहा हूँ ?
लेकिन इसके लिए जरुरी है कि ज्यादा से ज्यादा मित्रों तक मेरी सूचनाएँ पहुँचे. यदि आप संविधान-प्रेमी हो, तो कृपया RETWEET करके मुझे फॉलो अवश्य करे
नोट: इसमें मेरा कोई नीजि फायदा नहीं! ??
— Advocate AbduL HannaN (@hannan061) March 12, 2020
Post the violence amid anti-CAA protests in UP, CM Adityanath had ordered to put posters of alleged rioters with their names and address all over town, demanding compensation from them for damage to public property.
While the Allahabad High Court ordered the state government to take down the posters seeing the potential threat to the lives of the people whose names and even addresses had featured on them, the state government refused to do so and approached the Supreme Court to appeal against the High Court’s order. The Supreme Court did not set aside the High Court’s order and told the state that there was no law that backed their action to put up such posters to “name and shame” the protesters.
Soon after the Supreme Court held that there was no law that there was no law to validate the government’s actions, the UP cabinet passed the ‘Recovery of Damage to Public and Private Property’ Ordinance which will give claims tribunals powers to collect compensation without even letting the accused put forth their defence.
The state administration also imposed the Gangster Act against 28 people arrested allegedly in connection with violence, loot and the setting ablaze of a police outpost in Thakurganj Police station on December 19, 2019.
A press note released by the Lucknow Police said that the 28 people had been booked under the UP Gangsters and Anti-Social Activities (Prevention) Act, 1986 for conspiring as a “gang” to commit “anti-government activities,” reported Live Law. The accused and their alleged “gang leader” Mohammed Tahir have also been charged under the Explosives Act, Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, 1984, Criminal Law Amendment Act and various other sections of the IPC on charges of vandalism and arson.
Related:
No law to back your actions: SC to UP govt. defending ‘name and shame’ posters
“Everyone has been Silenced”: a comprehensive report on UP violence and its aftermath