Ghaziabad police in Uttar Pradesh imposed the stringent Goonda Act against a Hindu Raksha Dal (HRD) leader, Annu Chaudhary, following his involvement in a series of controversial incidents, on Friday, July 5. Chaudhary has also been expelled from the district for six months.
The action came after the far-right group leader faced arrest for openly abusing and threatening residents of Ayodhya in a viral video shortly after the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) defeat in the Lok Sabha elections.
In a video that went viral early in June, Annu Chaudhary and his accomplice Daksh Chaudhary were purportedly seen calling the people of Ayodhya “traitors” for not voting for BJP candidate Lallu Singh in the Lok Sabha election, who lost to Samajwadi Party’s Avadhesh Prasad by a significant margin of 54,567 votes.
Subsequently, taking suo motu cognizance of the video, the assistant commissioner of police, Shalimar Garden, Siddharth Gautam filed a First Information Report (FIR) on June 6, 2024.
“The Ghaziabad police have registered an FIR against Annu Chaudhary under sections 295A (acts intended to outrage religious feelings) and 504 (intentional insults) of the Indian Penal Code,” the police officer said.
Now, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Sahibabad, Bhaskar Verma, said that the police had started the process of levying the Goonda Act provisions on Choudhary and a notice would be sent to him seeking his reply on the matter.
“Once the provisions are levied, Chaudhary may be debarred from entering the district for six months,” the ACP said.
Pertinently, preventive detention under the Goonda Act allows the authorities to detain people for up to 12 months based on the recommendation of the police.
Earlier in May, Annu Chaudhary was arrested for allegedly assaulting Congress leader Kanhaiya Kumar and splattering ink on him during Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) councillor Chhaya Sharma’s campaign in Delhi’s New Usmanpur.
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