Yogendra Yadav detained, 'manhandled' by police in TN
Chennai, Sep 8 : Swaraj Abhiyan chief Yogendra Yadav and four of his associates were detained and allegedly manhandled by police on Saturday in Tiruvannamalai district when they were on their way to meet protesting farmers against the proposed eight-lane expressway between Chennai and Salem.
In a series of tweets, the psephologist-turned-politician claimed besides being prevented from going to meet the farmers, his phone was snatched, he was manhandled and pushed into a police van.
"First hand experience of police state in Tamil Nadu," said Yadav who was detained in Chengam in Tiruvannamalai district.
In a video posted in Twitter he said: "I am told that I am not allowed to visit farmers because there is a law and order problem. Because I am going to create unrest," he said, adding that he had acquired prior permission from the District Magistrate for the visit.
He said he was detained by the police soon after he spoke to the District Collector and told him about the forcible acquisition of land for the road project.
According to the police, Yadav had not taken any permission to meet the farmers. Reacting to it Yadav said police permission was not needed to meet farmers at their own place.
He also wrote to Chengam Deputy Superintendent of Police K.S. Sundaramoorthy, stating that the order preventing him from meeting the farmers was "illegal" and that it was given to him nearly five hours after he was detained in a marriage hall.
The "arbitrary detention" was strongly condemned by DMK leader M.K. Stalin.
"The DMK strongly condemns the arbitrary detention of Yogendra Yadav who supported farmers affected by the Chennai-Salem Expressway project.
"The 'intolerant' AIADMK government will pay the price for denying people the democratic right to dissent and protest," Stalin tweeted.
The All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee (AIKSCC) condemned the police action and demanded release of Yadav and others.
"Preventing people from voicing their opinion and forcing them to give up their land and livelihood has become a pattern of governments, which are pushing a 'development' agenda which is uprooting people and is against their interests. It serves the interest of big corporates, big contractors, corrupt politicians and officials," it said in a statement.
Actor-turned-politician Kamal Hassan in a tweet said the police action against Yadav is condemnable.
Yadav, along with trade union leader Dalip Singh; farmer leader from Odisha, Lingaraj; State Convener of Swaraj India, K. Balakrishnan; and Joint Convener for the movement against the road project, Arul Arumugam, was to meet the farmers who are opposed to the expressway and do not want to part with their land.
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Gurugram Police arrest BJP Yuva Morcha member for spreading fake murder story on social media
New Delhi: Gurugram Police have arrested BJP Yuva Morcha member Hariom Mishra, for allegedly spreading a fabricated and communally sensitive story on social media about the murder of a college student in Gurugram.
Mishra who is also known as Shaurya Mishra had shared a collage of four photographs on his X handle earlier this month. He claimed that a 24-year-old college student, identified as Nikita Agarwal, had been murdered by her classmate Arif Khan in Gurugram. In the post, he alleged that the woman was blackmailed, forced into prostitution, gangraped, and eventually killed. He also claimed that Arif dumped her body in a forest. The claims were presented as being based on police sources.
The post went viral and garnering over 1.5 lakh views, and was amplified by several right-wing social media handles across X, Facebook and Instagram. A verification of the claims revealed that no such incident had taken place in Gurugram. A search of credible news reports showed no record of any such murder. The police said this news would have inevitably attracted media attention if it were true.
On December 11, Gurugram Police publicly refuted the claims through their official X handle. They stated that the information which was being circulated was completely false. The police warned that legal action would be taken against those spreading misinformation. Despite the warning, Mishra neither deleted the post nor issued any clarification.
Police in Gurugram confirmed Mishra's arrest on December 16. The police said a FIR was filed after he continued to spread false information about the alleged murder of a Hindu woman by Muslim man. Police said Mishra, a resident of Uttar Pradesh's Kaushambi district, is now being investigated.
Gurugram Police spokesperson Sandeep Singh told The Print that the accused had deliberately misrepresented facts and used objectionable content to spread hatred along religious lines. “Such posts can create serious disturbances in society, and the police take these matters very seriously,” he said.
A reverse image search conducted by fact-checkers at Alt News, revealed that the photographs used in the viral post were unrelated to the claims, while two of the images were traced to a Pinterest account belonging to influencer Maulik Chopra and another image was sourced from an Instagram post by influencer Shivam Thakur featuring a woman named Deepanshi Rawat. The fourth image was found on an unrelated Instagram page. The images depicted different individuals and had no connection to any crime.
Police said they are also investigating Mishra’s motive behind sharing the false and provocative content.
