27 October,2010 07:16 AM IST | | Mohit Sharma
Special branch informed local police at the eleventh hour about the meeting that turned into a security nightmare and has triggered a political controversy
Authorities are now mulling how to go about prosecuting Hurriyat hawk Syed Ali Shah Geelani and author-turned-activist Arundhati Roy for making provocative speeches at the LTG auditorium in New Delhi on Friday. But on D-Day the local police station was clueless about the meeting that has now become a talking point throughout the country.
Grin and bear it: Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Arundhati Roy at a seminar
on 'Azadi' on Friday in New Delhi.
The controversial remarks by the duo have now kicked up a political storm but nobody in the Tilak Marg police station knew until 11:30 pm on Thursday that the separatist leader, known for his secessionist agenda, was going to attend a meeting in the national capital.
"It was only at about midnight that one of the special branch officers called the Tilak Marg police station, informing them about the gathering and only then they made arrangements to thwart any untoward incident," police sources said.
Senior Delhi police officers, on condition of anonymity said, "We had no intimation about the event and we had only a few hours to prepare ourselves and gather force. Apart from that we didn't even know what all is to be discussed in the seminar. We had no idea of the topic, subject of the seminar and what all was going to transpire there."
In fact, a group of Kashmiri Pandits had also reached the meeting on Friday to protest against Geelani and a shoe was also hurled at the separatist leader. The police had to intervene a lot of times to keep the protesters out.
Sources said the Delhi Police has sent a report along with the video footage of the seminar and the protest which had happened there to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). "We have our official videos --- which were reportedly taken by the special branch sleuths -- and it has been handed over to the ministry," the senior police officers stated.
Even though there were reports on Monday that the MHA has given a go-ahead to register a case against Geelani and Arundhati Roy, no case was registered by the Delhi police in connection with the matter till Tuesday night.
"We are still undecided whether to register a case or not and we are probing all angles and legal provisions to move forward in the case," a Home Ministry officials told MiD DAY.
| Case in Ranchi |
| A case of alleged sedition has been filed in a Ranchi court against noted writer Arundhati Roy for her controversial remarks on Kashmir. The complaint, lodged by one Ashish Kumar Singh in the Chief Judicial Magistrate's (CJM) court of Vijay Kumar on Monday, was transferred to the court of Judicial Magistrate (first class) of Amit Shekhar on Tuesday. |
| Repoter's viwe |
| Having debated and probed possibilities for five days, the government and law-enforcement agencies are still confused about how to move forward with taking action against Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Arundhati Roy. |
