By TwoCircles.net Staff Reporter
It seems protesting against Yogi Adityanath has now become a crime in Uttar Pradesh.A few days ago, eight students from Lucknow University were beaten up and sent to jail for protesting against Yogi, and this time an ex-IPS officer and other Dalit activists have faced the same fate.
The activists, including Dalit leaders like Ramesh Dixit, Ram Kumar, Ashish Awasthi and a retired bureaucrat SR Darapuri were arrested from UP Press Club at Lucknow when they were about to address a press conference over ‘atrocities against Dalits’.
Darapuri himself gave the information about his arrest and eight others via Twitter and Facebook.
The strange fact is that activists were arrested on the mere suspicion of planning protest against Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister.
A few weeks back, officials distributed soaps and shampoo to Dalits prior to Yogi Adityanath’s rally in Kushinagar. Many Dalit leaders and activists were outraged by this.
Prior to the incident happened in Lucknow, around 45 Dalits from Gujarat coming to Lucknow were sent back to Ahmedabad via train in Jhansi. The Dalits from Gujarat were carrying a 125-kilogram soap to gift to Yogi Adityanath, in order to protest his order of distributing soaps and shampoos among Dalits.
ADG Law & Order Aditya Mishra termed it as a preventive measure. Darapuri and others too were accompanying the 45-member delegation coming from Gujarat.
About the arrest, VC Tripathi, SP, Lucknow West told the press, “They were going towards Hazratganj where sec 144 was imposed and they also did not have permission to hold a rally.”