Amulya was arrested a day later and sent to judicial custody for 14 days. Amulya was arrested a day later and sent to judicial custody for 14 days.

Amulya Leona‘s father Oswald Noronha Saturday said her statements during a protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act in Bengaluru were “unacceptable” and had “hurt the feelings of all Indians”. Speaking to IndianExpress.com, Noronha said his family did not agree with it, but she “deserves a chance to correct herself”. Read in Bengali

During a rally in the city Thursday, 19-year-old Amulya had raised “Pakistan Zindabad” slogans. She was arrested a day later and sent to judicial custody for 14 days.

#WATCH The full clip of the incident where a woman named Amulya at an anti-CAA-NRC rally in Bengaluru raised slogan of ‘Pakistan zindabad’ today. AIMIM Chief Asaddudin Owaisi present at rally stopped the woman from raising the slogan; He has condemned the incident. pic.twitter.com/wvzFIfbnAJ — ANI (@ANI) February 20, 2020

“What Amulya has done is not acceptable. Me and my family will not agree with her statement… it has hurt the feeling of all the Indians,” Noronha said. “Now she has done a blunder by raising a controversial statement which has hurt everyone, but she also deserves a chance to correct herself.”

On Thursday night, Noronha, a farmer and environmental activist from Gubbagudde village in Koppa town in Chikkamagaluru district, had filed a police complaint after his house was vandalised by miscreants. The district police has now deployed three policemen at his residence. “The window panes and doors of my house were damaged. I was alone when the incident happened since my wife had left for Bengaluru by then,” he said.

He claimed he was heckled by a group of people on the same night and forced to raise “Bharat Mata ki Jai” slogans. Various pro-Hindu organisations also held a series of protests across Chikkamagaluru district against Amulya on Friday.

Noronha owns an areca plantation near his house and a poultry farm. He has been actively involved in environment-related and political activities in the district. He has been a follower of H G Govinde Gowda, also known as Malenada Gandhi in the region. He is a Gandhian and former Karnataka Education Minister. “I joined and worked for BJP leaders like D N Jeevaraj and Shobha Karandlaje during their elections. In the 2018 Assembly elections, I supported Govinde Gowda’s son Venkatesh when he contested from the Sringeri Assembly constituency on a JD(S) ticket,” Noronha said.

Amulya’s father was an environmental activist who took part in Appiko Chaluvali, a southern version of the Chipko movement that was started by Pandurang Hegde in 1983 to save trees in the Western Ghats.

Explained | Sedition case for ‘pro-Pakistan’ slogans: What did SC rule on archaic law?

As an activist himself, Noronha said he knew about Amulya’s participation and speeches at anti-CAA protests. “Though she didn’t tell me about her involvement in the protest, many of my friends called me and told me about her speeches. In fact, 15 days ago, I personally went to see her delivering a speech and observed her carefully. After this I felt I should make her go to college and told her not to miss classes by participating in the protest,” he said.

“Since her school days, she has been a very mature and intelligent girl and has been very good at studies. She secured very good marks in Class 10 and showed good behaviour and made us very proud of her,” he added. “She wanted to join Arts in PUC but I told her to take science and join a college in Mysuru. Then, as per her wish, she did a BA in journalism, psychology, and English in Bengaluru’s NMKRV College,” he added.

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