COURTESY HT JUNE 27
HP’S EX-CPS HELD FOR SEDITION FOR COMMENTS AGAINST PM
HT Correspondent

letterschd@hindustantimes.com

DHARAMSHALA : Congress leader and former chief parliamentary secretary (CPS), Neeraj Bharti, was arrested on Friday by the Himachal Police on the charge of sedition for his ‘objectionable remark’ against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

A police spokesperson said Bharti was summoned to Shimla for questioning on June 24 and was arrested on Friday. He will be produced before the chief judicial magistrate (CJM) court, Shimla, on Saturday.

Bharti, in a series of posts on Facebook, had made ‘offensive’ remarks against the Prime Minister and RSS after the violent face-off between India and China in Galwan valley of Ladakh.

A Shimla-based lawyer Narender Guleria had lodged a complaint against Bharti with the Crime Branch on June 20.

The former Jawali legislator was booked under Sections 124A (sedition), 153a (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) and 505 (statements conducing to public mischief) of the Indian Penal Code.