Punjab police slap sedition cases against ‘Sikhs for Justice’, its chief
The Punjab Police on Friday booked Gurpatwant Singh Pannun and his banned ‘Sikhs for Justice’ (SFJ) for “seditious automated calls aimed at instigating the people, particularly youth, against the state government” during the lockdown in the wake of Covid-19 outbreak.
Cases have been registered against Pannun and US-based SFJ under Section 124A of IPC, and Sections 10 (a) and 13 (1) of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, at the State Special Operations Cell (SSOC), Mohali, said director general of police (DGP) Dinkar Gupta.
According to Varinder Pal Singh, AIG, SSOC, preliminary enquiries have revealed that Pannun was involved in the commission of seditious acts of advocating secession of Punjab through automated calls as well as pre-recorded audio messages to various residents of Punjab and nearby areas in March and April, with the intention to foment trouble in Punjab.
He said that since the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in India, Pannun, his associates and organisation were found “incessantly disseminating seditious contents on social media to further frustrate and instigate the already anguished and distressed masses of Punjab”.
Disclosing the SFJ modus operandi, the AIG said that in one such recorded audio message, sent from an international number (+1-8336101020) of North America region, Pannun instigated the listeners by alleging that the central government and the Punjab government were torturing the youth in the name of enforcing the ongoing curfew in the state due to Covid-19 pandemic.
The pre-recorded interactive voice response messages through telephone calls as well as audio messages to the people of Punjab belonging to various walks of life from New York (US) are being made for pushing the secessionist agenda of SFJ, said the AIG.
In one audio call, recorded by an informer, Pannu is heard asking the receivers of the voice calls to vote for SFJ if they are in agreement with the policies of the organisation by pressing ‘1’, or press ‘2’ if they are in agreement with the policies of the Prime Minister of India and the chief minister of Punjab.