Youth Arrested for Liking Facebook Post Supporting Khalistan; Forced to Tender Written Apology and Deactivate Facebook Account

NEW DELHI, India—In another instance of crushing the right to freedom of expression in India, an 18 year old boy was reportedly taken into custody by the Uttarakhand police on February 2 for liking a post espousing the cause of sovereign Sikh state Khalistan. Although the boy was later released after forcing him to tender an apology in written but a sharp outrage has prevailed among the Sikh community after this incident.

It is pertinent to note here that the RSS backed saffron political outfit BJP rules the Uttarakhand state these days.

Reliable sources have informed that the local Intelligence unit of District Rudrapur (Uttarakhand) taken the boy into custody after he liked a post promoting the Sikh cause on Facebook. He was interrogated by the Police like a criminal to scare him and spread panic among the society about the concept of sovereign Sikh state Khalistan.

SHO Rudrapur Kailash Chandra Bhatt told the media that the boy was let go after obtaining an apology in written from him and directing him to deactivate his Facebook account. “We are trying to find the people who shared the post. The media cell of the police is investigating the matter,” he added.

It may be recalled here that the Rudrapur police had indicted two youths under sedition charges in September last year for running a campaign on social media about Khalistan.