Uttarakhand HC seeks reply on UPP chief’s detention

The High Court here has directed the State Government to clarify on Tuesday the legal basis for detaining Uttarakhand Partivartan Party president Prabhat Dhyani on July 19.

The Government on Monday informed a bench of Justices Ravindra Maithani and Siddhartha Saha that Dhyani had been released.

The bench then asked the Government on what legal basis it had detained Dhyani and directed it to give an explanation on Tuesday.

According to the petition filed in this regard, Ramnagar Police detained Dhyani from a general coach at Rishikesh railway station at around 5 pm on Sunday when he was heading to New Delhi to join the protest rally called by activist Sonam Wangchuk.

Before leaving for Delhi, Dhyani shared a Facebook post expressing his party’s support for Wangchuk’s ongoing movement demanding reforms in the education system.

The Uttarakhand Parivartan Party would participate in the “Sansad Chalo” march from Jantar Mantar to Parliament on July 20, he wrote in the post, demanding the dismissal of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

The petition alleged that after Dhyani’s detention, the police did not provide any information about him to his family, forcing them to search for him throughout the night. Even after learning of his police custody, the family claimed, the police initially refused to release him.

Party general secretary Lalmani filed the habeas corpus petition and advocate Snigdha Tiwari argued the case.