A UP Congress delegation met Joint Commissioner of Police Naveen Arora in Lucknow on Monday and registered its protest against the action taken against some party workers who put up posters in protest against hoardings put up by the state government to name and shame anti-CAA riot accused.
The delegation accused the administration of blindly following the government and adopting double standards in initiating action against the accused.
“Even the apex court has observed that the move to put up hoardings of those accused of violence during anti-CAA protests is not supported by any law. The government was directed to remove the posters by March 16 and initiate legal proceedings,” said Congress leader Saroj Shukla.
“But instead of taking any action, the administration promptly acted against Congress leaders in the recent matter. These leaders put up hoardings pointing out that the chief minister and other Bharatiya Janata Party leaders were also involved in violence earlier and suggested that the accused BJP leaders should first compensate losses for the damages they caused and then realise money from anti-CAA protesters. The Lucknow police acted promptly where Congress leaders were accused. Is it not a travesty of justice?” Shukla asked.
On Sunday, two Congress leaders were arrested for putting up ‘indecent’ posters relating to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and his deputy Keshav Prasad Maurya. The posters were put up late on Friday night and were removed on Saturday.
Depicting photographs of the chief minister and deputy chief minister, the posters listed the criminal records of both and five other BJP leaders — Sangeet Som, Suresh Rana, Sanjeev Balyan, Sadhvi Prachi and Umesh Malik.
While Som is an MLA from Sardhana, Rana is a member of legislative assembly and Balyan is an MP from Muzaffarnagar.