Communal sloganeering at Jantar Mantar: Delhi Police registers FIR

Former BJP spokesperson Ashwini Upadhyay, has refuted the allegations, saying that no such inflammatory slogans were shouted during their event, which started around 11am and was over by noon

The Delhi Police on Monday said they registered a first information report (FIR) in connection with a video in which some people are seen raising communal and inflammatory slogans near Jantar Mantar in central Delhi on Sunday. The video was circulated on social media with allegations that the communal sloganeering took place during a march for “Colonial Laws and Make Uniform Laws” organised on Sunday at Jantar Mantar by Supreme Court lawyer and former spokesperson of the Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Ashwini Upadhyay. Police said that permission was not granted to the organisers for holding the event.

A screenshot of the video doing the rounds on social media. (Sourced)

Upadhyay, however, has refuted the allegations, saying that no such inflammatory slogans were shouted during their event that started around 11am and was over by noon.

“We started our event at 11am and left after concluding it at noon, because the crowd had started swelling up. No inflammatory slogans were raised during our event. If the video is genuine, I believe that the sloganeering may have happened either before our event or afterwards. I learnt about the video around 8pm on Sunday, when it was circulated on social media and some people started tagging me with intent to defame me. I don’t know the people sloganeering in the video, have never met them, nor they were called for the event,” said Upadhyay.

In the video that was circulated on social media on Sunday night, some people are seen raising anti-Muslim and inflammatory slogans on a road. A Delhi bus stop and yellow iron barricades used by the Delhi Police are seen behind the 15-16 people who are allegedly involved in the sloganeering. HT could not independently verify the authenticity of the video.

A senior police officer who did not want to be named said that a case under Indian Penal Code’s sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony) and 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) has been registered against unknown persons at the Connaught Place police station. Relevant sections of Delhi Disaster Management Act were also included in the FIR as Covid-19 guidelines were violated during the event that was organised despite the police having denied permission to the organisers.

“We are verifying the authenticity of the video and trying to ascertain where exactly it was shot and when. Further legal action will be taken accordingly,” the officer said.