Uttarakhand: The police of Uttarakhand has revealed that the person’s social media posts will now have a bearing on the police clearance required for obtaining a passport.
the state director general of police Ashok Kumar said Uttarakhand police will now scrutinize social media behavior of those putting anti-national posts on social media platforms and would not clear their verification for passport or arms license if it’s found against the country,
throwing light on the state police’s current approach on the matter of posting Anti-national posts on social media, Kumar said “Till now, in cases of any person putting any anti-national posts on social media, the police used to first do his counseling, asking him not to repeat it in future. A case was registered only if it was a very serious case,”
“From now onwards, the police would scrutinize the accused person’s social media behavior 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,” said Kumar.
According to them, the decision was taken as there has been a rapid increase in the number of people putting anti-national posts on social media in the state. This action was taken to control and keep a vigil on the posts of Social media.
Karthikeya Gupta, Senior Lawyer at Uttarakhand High Court expressed his dissatisfaction on this matter and said, ” It is a complete infringement of the individual’s freedom of expression. The police have no right to decide whether any posts on social media are anti-national or not; it is the job of the court.
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