In connection with the complaint lodged by Purola MlA Mal Chand alleging that six persons have been posting objectionable comments on his Facebook account to defame him, Purola police are yet to arrest the accused.
It is assumed they are not acting in view of the accused and the organisation under whose banner they are launching anti-corruption campaign accusing police of having registered the case under pressure from the MlA. The accused who claim themselves to be students have staged protest and bunt the effigy of the MlA in Purola on Saturday under the banner of Nav Kranti Manch, demanding immediate withdrawal of the ‘fabricated’ case. In Dehradun too, they had protested in the same way on Friday. They said the MlA had compelled police to register the case to intimidate the anti-corruption campaigners into submission.
The MlA had registered the case on Thursday under section 66 of IT Act in Police Station, saying that the accused had been pasting vulgar posts in his Facebook account with malicious intention to denigrate him publicly.
In his written complaint, MlA Chand had stated that he felt humiliated with the accused hurling invectives, maliciously damaging his reputation. The youths who figure in the complaint are Rakesh Joshi, Uday Pratap, Pawan Rawat, Kavindra Rawat, Khushpal Singh and Sunil Verma.
Queried over the delay on acting on the MlA’s complaint, a Purola Police officer said that teams have been formed to investigate the case.
Baldev Bhandari, a Nav Kranti Manch activist, on the other hand, alleged that MlA had pressured the local police in Purola to register the case against six innocent students who are launching a drive against corruption in the state. These students had only mentioned that corruption is being indulged in under MlA local area development and the MlA must answer the people over the graft charges being raised. They alleged that MlA had framed the six youths in the case to gag their voice demanding transparency in public life.
Echoing the same, another association activist Amit said that the MlA had forced the local police to lodge the FIR against six students to retaliate against the campaign being launched to expose his corruption.
“These students are raising corruption issues after receiving report through RTI from the departments concerned,” he added. The association will intensify its protest across the state until case is withdrawn by the MlA from the police station, the activists warned.