The Bihar police on Thursday issued an order saying those participating in violent protests, sitting on a dharna or blocking roads will find it difficult to get government jobs or passports.
The order further warned that such people would not be given loans of grants from the government if they indulge in any aforementioned activity.
As per the directive issued by Bihar DGP SK Singhal, if anyone takes part in a protest that could turn violent, the police can mention the same in his certificate of conduct or character certificate.
The order states “any person who gets involved in road blockades, protest demonstrations or other activities that affected law and order and against whom the police issues a charge-sheet for involvement in a criminal activity, must be awarded an adverse entry in character verification certificate”.
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“Such people must be prepared for dire consequences since they would stand deprived of government jobs and contracts”, the order added.
That’s not all, participation in protest would affect police verification for these arms – license, passport, character certificate, contractual jobs in government, work contracts in government departments, boards and commissions, licences for petrol pump and gas agency, government assistance or grant, bank loans, The Indian Express reported.
Leader of the opposition Tejashwi Yadav shared a screenshot of the order on his official Twitter handle and attacked Chief Minister Nitish Kumar betraying a mix of outrage and mockery.
“Nitish Kumar competes with Mussolini and Hitler and says whoever exercised the democratic right to stage a protest against the ruling dispensation will not get a job…..how scared is the poor chief minister of 40 MLAs”, the RJD leader tweeted, making a tongue in cheek reference to the poor performance of the JD(U) in the recent assembly elections.
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Following Bihar’s footsteps, the Uttarakhand police will also monitor social media posts that they think are “anti-national” or “anti-social”. This can have an impact on police verification for passports.
“From now onwards, the police would scrutinise the accused person’s social media behaviour to check if he is habitual of putting such anti-national posts. If it is found, then the police would not clear his police verification, needed while applying for passport or arms license,” Hindustan Times quoted Uttarakhand DGP Ashok Kumar as saying.
