Friday, March 29, 2024

Delhi LG gives sanction to prosecute Shehla Rashid for her tweets on Indian Army

Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena has given sanction to prosecute student activist Shehla Rashid in a 2019 sedition case related to her tweets about the Indian Army.

The prosecution sanction was related to a case registered on 3 September, 2019, under Section 153A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) by the Delhi Police Special Cell on the basis of a complaint made by a right wing advocate, Alakh Alok Srivastava, Indian Express reported citing Raj Niwas sources.

Rashid is the former vice-president of Jawaharlal Nehru University Students‘ Union.

The two tweets of Shehla Rashid are: 1) “Armed Forces are entering houses at night, picking up boys, ransacking houses, deliberately spilling rations on floor, mixing oil with rice, etc” and 2) “In Shopian, 04 men were called into the Army Camp and ‘interrogated’ (tortured). A mic was kept close to them so that the entire area could hear them scream and be terrorized. This created an environment of fear in the entire area.“

The tweets were part of a Twitter thread in which the student leader had recounted what she had heard from those who had travelled out of Kashmir after the Valley was placed in a lockdown on August 5, 2019, as the Union government revoked the erstwhile state’s special constitutional status and split it into two Union Territories.

The Delhi lieutenant governor’s office has said her tweets about the Indian Army were aimed at “promoting enmity between different groups” and “indulging in acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony.“

The proposal to prosecute Rashid was sent by the Delhi Police and supported by the Home Department.

“The nature of the case, location to which the tweets refers and making false allegations against the Army makes it a serious issue,” the Home Department said.

Shehla Rashid had said that the case against her was “frivolous, politically motivated and pathetic attempt” to silence her.

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