Aligarh: Congress candidate from Aligarh city Salman Imtiaz has been slapped with an order barring him from staying in the district, authorities said on Saturday.
The externment order which was pasted on his house on Friday was dated January 14. Imtiaz had filed his nomination for the Uttar Pradesh polls on Thursday.
“The ban was imposed on the basis of his being charged under the Gunda Act since he posed a threat to the peace of the city, Additional District Magistrate city Rakesh Kumar Patel said.
“They’ve conspired to extern me from Aligarh district because they are well aware that if Salman Imtiaz wins this election they won’t be able to do their oppressive politics,” Imtiaz tweeted.
Imtiaz, a Ph.D. scholar, and outgoing Aligarh Muslim University Students’ Union President was a prominent figure in the anti-CAA protests that erupted in India in 2019, following the Narendra Modi’s government’s decision to introduce the anti-Muslim Bill.
Imtiaz was served a ban order in March 2020 also in the wake of anti-CAA agitation in the Aligarh Muslim University. Besides him, several other AMU student leaders were issued such a ban order.
Imtiaz said he had responded to the ban order in 2020 but there has been no official response to his plea since then. “Suddenly after I filed nomination, I was asked to leave the city and report at a police station in Kasganj district,” he said.
Earlier this month, Imtiaz had sent a memorandum to the President of India demanding action against the Haridwar hate speeches. He had also opposed the proposed Dharam Sansad’ in Aligarh, which was later postponed.
Congress district president Santosh Singh accused the BJP of orchestrating the ban and said the party will challenge this order in court.
(With Inputs from PTI)
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