Lady SPO booked under UAPA; Don’t pay heed to those trying to paint incident other than criminal act: Police

Srinagar: Reacting to the statements being made over the arrest of a lady SPO in Kulgam, Jammu and Kashmir police on Saturday appealed people not to pay heed towards those trying to paint the incident in any hue other than a criminal act.

“Apropos our earlier press note regarding disengagement of Lady SPO from service for glorifying militancy in Kulgam dated 16 April 2021. It has been found that on various media platforms, a number of vested interests with malafide intentions have put in a lot of efforts into making the incident appear like an “over-reach” and an” excessively strict action,” police said in a statement.

Police said that is clarified that the accused woman uttered anti-India and pro-freedom slogans off-camera thus inviting penal action under ULA (P) Act. “The uttering made on-camera was livestreamed for further dissemination on diverse social media platforms with the intention to cause disruption of an ongoing operation and to incite disaffection towards the State. This is punishable under the Indian Penal Code and ULA(P)Act.”

“Also, the accused being a police employee, is bound by a code of conduct which was brazenly violated by her. Thus, the concurrent departmental action has been taken against her. The household of the accused is a suspected shelter point of an active Hizb-ul-Mujahidin militant namely Aslam Dar and the woman has been on police radar as a suspected OGW; thus was subjected to search.”

“It remains to be investigated whether her act was meant as a disruption tactic to aid escape of the said militant when the search operation was underway,” police said.

It is, thus, requested that no heed should be paid towards those trying to paint the incident in any hue other than a criminal act, police said. (KNO)