A police officer in Meerut has triggered a controversy after he was caught on camera allegedly telling protesters to “go to Pakistan”, during the violence that broke out in the western U.P. city last week over the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.
A video of the incident, which the police said happened on December 20, was widely shared on social media. The 1.43-minute clip shows Akhilesh Narayan Singh, posted as additional SP City, talking to a small group of people in a narrow lane as his colleagues march in. “Tell the protesters who have tied black and yellow bands to go to Pakistan. You will eat here but praise some other place,” Mr. Singh said. He also told them that he would remember the lane and could even “reach their grandmothers”.
Later, clarifying his remarks, Mr. Singh said he was reacting to some boys in the lane shouting ‘Pakistan zindabad’ slogans and fleeing, amid stone throwing in the area.
“I told them that if you make such comments, then you go where you like it better. I told them if you raise Pakistan zindabad slogans and hate India so much, that you throw stones, then go to Pakistan,” he said. Their sloganeering was objectionable in that atmosphere, he added.
ADG, Meerut zone, Prashant Kumar, supported his officer and said given the sensitive atmosphere and stone throwing, Mr. Singh had displayed restraint.
“The choice of words, during normal circumstances, could have been better. But officials showed restraint and didn’t misbehave with the other people standing there,” Mr. Kumar said.
Playing this video after a week also appeared to be “part of a conspiracy”, the senior officer added.
