Roti and salt video: Scribe’ among two booked; minister doesn’t agree with the police action
A senior police officer confirmed that ‘journalist’ Pawan Jaiswal and Rajkumar Pal had been booked under sections 186 (voluntarily obstructing a public servant in the discharge of his function), 193 (false evidence), 120 B (criminal conspiracy) and 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
lucknow Updated: Sep 03, 2019 06:26 IST
Police on Sunday evening booked two persons, including a ‘journalist’, for allegedly making and circulating a video of roti and salt being served to the students of a government primary school in Shuir area of Mirazpur district last month. The duo has been charged under several sections, including criminal conspiracy.
One of the accused, Rajkumar Pal, who works as a representative of the village head, has been arrested, said cops.
A senior police officer confirmed that ‘journalist’ Pawan Jaiswal and Rajkumar Pal were booked on Sunday under IPC sections 186 (voluntarily obstructing a public servant in the discharge of his function), 193 (false evidence), 120 B (criminal conspiracy) and 420 (cheating). Police said it appeared that the intention was to defame the state government.
“The case was registered following a complaint by an education officer in the matter. Accused Pal has been taken into custody,” said superintendent of police (SP) Mirzapur Awadhesh Kumar Pandey.
Hours after the media reported lodging of the FIR, basic education minister Satish Dwivedi said on Monday that the action against the journalist for merely exposing corruption and highlighting reality should not have been taken.
“I will ask the SP (superintendent of police) on what basis the police have acted,” Dwivedi said.
The Samajwadi Party termed the filing of the FIR as an attack on “free and fearless journalism”, with president Akhilesh Yadav saying that everyone should unite for the freedom of expression.
Jaiswal, meanwhile, denied the allegations. “This is against journalism. You can see the news and verify it,” he told a television channel. “Nothing is being created. I had told everything (to officials).”
To recall, on August 22, a video of roti and salt being served to children at the government primary school, Shiur, as Mid-Day Meal (MDM) went viral on the social media.
Police said that an unidentified person also sent the video through Whatsapp to the Mirzapur district magistrate Anurag Patel.
The DM then instructed the then basic shiksha adhikari (BSA) Pravin Kumar Tiwari to conduct a probe into the matter. Tiwari suspended the head master of the school concerned and also sought explanation from two other officials -- the nyay panchayat resource centre in-charge and the block education officer (Jamalpur).
Despite the action, soon after a controversy erupted and Tiwari was transferred to Prayagraj.
The DM also constituted a four-member committee, led by chief development officer Priyanka Niranjan and including additional district magistrate UP Singh, sub-divisional magistrate Satya Prakash Singh and block education officer (Mirzapur headquarters ) Prem Shankar Ram to get to the bottom of the incident.
“Chief minister Yogi Adityanath took the matter very seriously. On his instruction, the probe was conducted. The investigation revealed that the video was prepared and circulated deliberately,” said Patel.
He further said that the village head and the head master of the school operated the MDM account, which had sufficient funds.
Despite that, Rajkumar Pal, who looked after the work as a representative of the village head, called up Jaiswal to the school on August 22 and, ‘under a conspiracy’, shot and shared the video on the social media.
The DM said that BEO Prem Shankar Ram was then instructed to file a police complaint against the two in this connection.
(WITH AGENCY INPUTS)
First Published: Sep 02, 2019 15:12 IST