Indian youth arrested for uploading ‘I support Pakistan’ picture on Facebook

BAREILLY: Police in India have arrested a 25-year-old youth and booked him for sedition for uploading his display picture on Facebook with a tagline “I support Pakistan”.

The guy lives in Bisauli town of Badaun. During the interrogation, the youth told police that he uploaded the picture only to create a stir and a lot of negative comments on the social networking site.

The police was galvanized into action  after a complaint from local  radical activists of Bajrang Dal. In a similar case in April this year, the Indian police had booked 60 people for waving Pakistan’s national flag during a religious procession in Bisauli.

According to the police, Babloo Khan, a mirror artisan who has a shop in the town, had uploaded the picture which also showed Pakistan’s national flag on his Facebook profile on July 22. Though he later deleted it, it had become viral by then.

“We took cognizance of the post after we found it on the internet. Later, we also received a complaint in this connection from local Bajrang Dal activists,” TOI quoted a senior police officer Chandra Prakash as saying.

Police on Sunday visited the accused’s shop and found the picture on his mobile phone. He was arrested on the spot and booked under section 124 A (sedition) of Indian Penal Code (IPC) and other relevant sections of the Information Technology Act.

Bisauli station house officer Rajesh Kumar said, “During interrogation, Khan told us that he used the controversial picture just to attract attention, negative comments and likes on Facebook.”

On April 30 this year, Badaun police had slapped sedition charges on 60 persons for waving Pakistan’s national flag during a procession on December 13, 2016 in Bisauli.