Pulwama attack

I have pulled up the officials who registered the case under section 124A. They just went by what the Zomato fellows had alleged. It will be treated as a false case – DCP (south) K Annama

The FIR which clearly mentions section 124A

Bangalore

They are accused of shouting slogans outside this bar in JP Nagar

DCP (south) K Annamalai

By Amit KumarSix students – three men and three women – head out to a bar to let their hair down on Friday evening. A bunch of delivery guys sitting next to their table start teasing the girls and a fight ensues. A while later, one of the delivery agents — from Zomato — lands up at the Puttenahalli police station and alleges that the students were raising slogans of ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ in front of the bar. The head constable of the station then files a case of sedition against the three men.That is the sum and substance of the complaint and counter-complaint registered at the police station but one that will be the talk of the town for some time to come due to the charged atmosphere in the country after theRaffiq, the Zomato delivery agent, has alleged in his complaint that the three men (all have Kumar Singh as the surname), all students of a prestigious engineering college in the city, were drunk and created a ruckus at around 11.50 pm outside Brahma Brews in JP Nagar 7th Phase.“On February 22, the three accused raised their hands and shouted slogans in front of Brahma’s bar. They repeatedly said ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ and also shouted slogans against the state government. This hurt the sentiments of the people,” his complaint stated.An FIR under sections 124a (whoever, by words, either spoken or written, or by signs, or by visible representation, or otherwise, brings or attempts to bring into hatred or contempt, or excites or attempts to excite disaffection towards the government of India), 153 (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 34 (criminal act done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code was registered against the students.Raffiq’s complaint was registered around 2.15 am on Saturday.Around 45 minutes later, one of the accused named in the FIR, filed a counter-complaint.“We were sitting at Brahma’s bar and having a discussion. Political issues also cropped up. And I started abusing Pakistan. After hearing our conversation, the men seated next to our table started misbehaving with us and fighting. We went outside the bar and Raffiq called some other delivery boys from Zomato and started misleading the crowd saying we were supporting Pakistan,” he toldMirror.The FIR registered on Singh’s complaint is under sections 143, 144 (bot dealing with unlawful assembly), 147, 148 (both dealing with rioting and armed with deadly weapon for it), 504 (insult to breach peace), 341 (wrongful restraint), 323, 324 (both dealing with punishment for causing hurt), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 149 (dealing with punishment for every member of unlawful assembly) of the IPC.Singh alleged that Raffiq deliberately filed a false complaint. “I heard him call up somebody on the mobile and say ‘these guys were abusing Pakistan. We’ve fixed them’.Several cases of misuse of Sections 124 A (which deals with sedition) keep taking place in the country despite the Supreme Court’s strict orders. The apex court had reminded state governments to use the provisions judiciously.“Registration of a case under section 124a could be done by any rank officer but for the investigation to commence special sanction should be taken from central or state government. Then if the sanction is provided only then can the accused be probed and that should be carried out by a police officer who should be either of inspector rank or above,” said senior High Court advocate, Shyam Sundar. Also, a preliminary enquiry is a must before registering the case, he added.“I have checked the FIR and the complainants. The section under which it is booked is wrong. They should have not invoked section 124A. I have pulled up the officials and we will close both the complaints. We are checking Zomato also,” said K Annamalai, DCP (South).The DCP’s intervention comes as a big relief to the students; had he not done so, they would have had to surrender their passports, lost out on government jobs, would have had to attend court hearings as when they were to be held and paid for the legal fees from their own pocket. Given the pressure on the judicial system, it’s difficult to say when the case would have concluded if the it had gone to court.