College students booked for sloganeering near Sukhu rally in Himchal's Solan, BJP hits out

Shimla, Oct 7 (PTI) College students who raised anti-chief minister slogans have been booked for allegedly sloganeering and spreading false information during a rally in Himachal Pradesh's Solan district, officials said on Monday.

The opposition BJP slammed the Congress government, saying it had "crossed all limits". However, the police maintained that some workers of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) came to the event uninvited and to create a ruckus.

The incident occurred on October 4 during a rally in Darlaghat. The chief minister had launched various development schemes in the Arki assembly constituency of Solan district and addressed the gathering.

During the rally, a group of college students alleged mismanagement of the event by the authorities and claimed they were not served food on time. They also raised slogans, "Sukhu ne bulaya hai, bhookhe he tadpaya hai, dhokha hai, janta se dhokha hai." Several videos of the incident surfaced online, with claims that attendees were made to sit in the scorching heat without food.

Following this, the police registered an FIR against the students under sections 353(2) (statements or false information circulated with the intent to cause enmity or promote hatred between different groups based on religion, race, or other grounds) and 3(5) (common intention) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.

BJP leader and Bilaspur MLA, Trilok Jamwal, criticised the Congress government, saying it was obsessed with filing FIRs and resorting to uncalled-for measures when voices were raised against its failures.

In a statement, he said the Congress government had "crossed all limits" by registering an FIR against the students.

He said children were invited to the programme and food was arranged through some mechanism. The girls were made to sit in the sun for hours to get food, and when they protested, a case was filed against them.

"I want to ask the CM how long you will stop the voice of the people," he said.

Jamwal said FIRs were registered against blind people for raising their demands, against orchardists who were unable to transport their produce to markets and had thrown their apples in drains, and against teachers protesting for their rights.

He further alleged that cases were being registered against disaster-hit people who expressed discontent with the government, and even against media personnel for publishing and broadcasting news. An FIR was filed against those who broke the 'Jungli murga' story, while an inquiry was initiated over 'Samosa', he added.

However, the police said some ABVP workers from Government College, Darlaghat, came uninvited and attempted to create a disturbance.

The FIR was registered on the complaint of Basant Lal, who stated that on October 4, when he reached the event for lunch, some girls were raising slogans against the chief minister. He alleged that these individuals were deliberately inciting regional hatred and enmity. PTI BPL HIG HIG