100 BJP workers booked for organising ‘welcome rally’ in Greater Noida

Noida: The Dadri police have registered a case against over 100 workers of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for allegedly organising an unauthorised rally on Sunday.

Noida: The Dadri police have registered a case against over 100 workers of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for allegedly organising an unauthorised rally on Sunday. According to the police, the workers allegedly gathered in Dadri in the afternoon, travelled to Bulandshahr and violated social distancing norms, in place due to the coronavirus (Covid-19) disease pandemic.

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Police said the “welcome rally” was allegedly for a newly appointed party functionary, Pundit Ashish Vats, who was appointed as chetriya mantri for BJP’s western Uttar Pradesh wing on Saturday.

Rudra Pratap, a sub-inspector, filed a complaint at the Dadri police station in this regard. He said that a police team was deployed at the Luharli toll plaza since the morning. “At 12.45pm, Vats, along with a group of BJP workers, reached the toll plaza in eight to 10 cars. These cars were overcrowded and violated social distancing norms. Some of them were not wearing masks, which is mandatory for the prevention of coronavirus,” he alleged in the FIR.

Vishal Pandey, additional deputy commissioner of police, Greater Noida, said that a case has been registered against Vats and his 100 supporters under IPC Section 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant.), Section 269 (negligent act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life), Section 270 (rash driving), and Section 3 the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897.

“There is enforcement of Section 144 of the CrPC in the district, which prohibits the assembly of four or more people in an area. The BJP workers had violated the law and a case has been registered. The police are investigating the matter,” Pandey said.

A video of the alleged “welcome programme” also surfaced, in which the party workers were purportedly seen travelling in cars, sitting on the cars’ windows sills, and also standing up in the moving, convertible cars. Some of the vehicles were also equipped with sirens and pressure horns, which created traffic nuisance on the way.

Vats was not available for a comment while BJP GB Nagar president Vijay Bhati’s mobile phone was switched off. Pundit Karamveer Arya, BJP’s Gautam Budh Nagar media in-charge, said that he was not available in the city on Saturday and has no information about the matter.