A sedition case has been registered against a Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) candidate from Bijnor over alleged pro-Pakistan slogans during campaigning for the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls, police said on February 5.
According to the police, a few days ago, a video of door-to-door campaigning of the RLD candidate from Bijnor Neeraj Chaudhary went viral in which it is heard that some people are allegedly raising “Pakistan Zindabad” slogans.
When contacted, Station House Officer (SHO) of Kotwali Bijnor Radhay Shyam told PTI, “A case of sedition has been registered against the RLD candidate from Bijnor Assembly constituency Neeraj Chaudhary. When he was undertaking door-to-door campaigning, some people accompanying him allegedly raised ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ slogans.” “A case has been registered against Neeraj Chaudhary and 20-25 others under various Sections of the IPC including 124-A (sedition) and 295-A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) and the Epidemic Diseases Act,” he added.
Mr. Shyam said the case was registered on Thursday and no arrests have been made yet.
“The audio and the video of the video clip will be examined,” he said.
Reacting to the registration of the case against the party candidate, RLD chief Jayant Chaudhary in a tweet in Hindi said, “Voters have to be careful! This election is #bhachara (brotherhood) versus BJP! In #NewIndia ‘Akif Bhai’ Zindabad is called ‘Pakistan Zindabad’...” “Our Bijnor candidate, Chaudhary Neeraj is a doctor. He is a nobleman. These foolish (’moorkh’) are trying to prove him a traitor by doctoring the video,” he said in another tweet.
Polling will be held in Bijnor in the second phase on February 14.
The RLD is contesting the elections in alliance with the Samajwadi Party.
