The chairperson of Bareilly civic body, Shahla Tahir of BSP, her husband and 500 others have been been booked for sedition after the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VH) complained of "Pakistan zindabad slogans" in her victory march in December last year.
According to a report by The Times of India, Shahla has denied the charges and said nobody could be "stupid enough to chant such slogans in today's UP".
She has been absconding since the charges were mentioned in an FIR on Tuesday. According to the report, she spoke to the newspaper from an undisclosed location.
According to a report by The Indian Express, the FIR was lodged late Tuesday on the complaint of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad’s (VHP) Nawabganj area president, Akhilesh Kumar Gangwar. The complainant had submitted a CD as evidence.
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The TOI report says that in the video which forms the basis of the FIR against Shahla, a lone voice is heard saying 'Pakistan zindabad' off camera.
Circle Officer of Nawabganj area Preetam Pal Singh told the Indian Express, “We examined the CD but could not decipher the exact words of the slogan as there was too much noise in the background. The CD was sent for forensic test. The lab report confirmed that ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ slogan was raised by people in the procession.”
Shahla had won the Nawabganj municipal board chairperson election after defeating Premlata Rathore, the sister-in-law of BJP’s Bareilly district president Ravindra Singh Rathore, by 171 votes.
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Rathore had then demanded for a recounting. He even manhandled the subdivisional magistrate when his demand was denied. Later a case was lodged against him in this connection.
Earlier, Bareilly police lodged an FIR against Shahla and 26 others for allegedly attacking Rathore’s supporters on the polling day. They had also conducted raids to arrest Shahla and other accused.
Shahla is yet to take oath as she has been claiming that the district administration is not making arrangements for her to take oath. But, the administration has maintained that she did not turn up for the swearing-in ceremony as she is facing a case of attempt to murder.
On the sedition FIR, she told TOI that those in the opposition "must think twice" before levelling sedition charges against her.
"I, or my my supporters, have no reason to talk about Pakistan when we live in India and are Indian citizens. I have been in public life for two decades and served the people of Nawabganj as nagar palika chairperson once before. On every national festival — Republic Day, Independence Day, and even Gandhi Jayanti — I hoist the tricolour, sing the national anthem and our national song" she told the newspaper, adding, “I want to make it clear to one and all that I am an Indian by choice, not by chance and will serve my country until my last breath."
