: Tweeting about a civic problem can land you in trouble. This is what happened to Noida-based Shivansh Srivastava when he tweeted to the UP DGP about the poor condition of a road here. Instead of acting upon the situation, the police allegedly thrashed him for raising a “false alarm”.
Mr. Srivastava, who has been a social activist since the age of 16, claimed he was also forced to write an apology letter.
Police inaction alleged
Sharing his experience, Mr. Srivastava said he was returning home from Noida Phase 2 on the night of January 27 when he saw a bike skidding near the Barola crossing.
“I rushed to help the rider. More motorbikes were also skidding on the same stretch. When I called the police, they responded by saying that no action was required as nobody had been hurt,” Mr. Srivastava said.
Shocked by the response, the victim tweeted, “@javeeddgpup @Uppolice @noidapolice 8 accidents in line bt no response from local police. Called thrice to #Dial100 rv waiting for tragedy?”
The UP Police then asked for Mr. Srivastava’s contact.
‘Forced to apologise’
“Within minutes, a Sub-Inspector, identified as Vijender Bhadana, reached the spot and started beating me. I was then taken to the Sector 49 police station, where they threatened to implicate me in an Arms Act case,” the victim said.
“The police did not stop there. They forced me to write an apology letter stating that my tweet had been fake,” Mr. Srivastava said. The apology letter was later shared on the Noida police’s Twitter account, the victim further claimed.
Help at hand
“Through some UP policemen, I got in touch with the UP Police PRO, Atul Srivastav. Mr. Srivastav intervened in the matter and helped me to get out of the police net. Even when I was leaving the police station, the policemen threatened me with dire consequences if I shared the incident with anybody,” the victim said.
Later, Senior Superintendent of Police, Gautam Budh Nagar, Dharmender Yadav, contacted the victim and ordered a probe into the matter.
“Twitter is a platform where anybody can raise any issue. Not allowing that will discourage people from fighting against atrocities. For a democratic country like India, it will be a dangerous trend,” the victim added.
Probe ordered
Mr. Yadav told The Hindu that a probe into the matter had been ordered . “ASP Gaurav Grover is conducting the investigation. Proceedings are on,” Mr. Yadav said.
Published - February 11, 2017 12:46 am IST
