Chandigarh Punjab Police on Friday booked Gurpatwant Singh Pannun and his banned Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) for seditious automated calls aimed at instigating the people, particularly the youth, against the state government during the COVID-19 curfew.
Cases have been registered against Pannun and US-based SFJ under Section 124 A of IPC, and Sections 10 (A) and 13 (1) of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, at the State Special Operations Cell inMohali, said Director General of Police Dinkar Gupta.
According to Varinder Pal Singh, AIG State Special Operations Cell (SSOC), Mohali, preliminary enquiries have revealed that Pannun was involved in the commission of seditious acts of advocating secession of Punjab through automated calls as well as pre-recorded audio messages to various residents and nearby areas in March and April 2020, with the intention to foment trouble.
Since the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in India, Pannun, his associates and his organization were found incessantly disseminating seditious contents on social media to further frustrate and instigate the already anguished and distressed masses of Punjab.
Disclosing the modus operandi, the AIG said that in one such recorded audio message, sent from an international number of North America region, Pannun instigated the listeners by alleging that the Central government and the Punjab government were torturing the youth in the name of enforcing the ongoing curfew-lockdown in the state due to the pandemic.
The pre-recorded interactive voice response messages through telephone calls as well as audio messages to the people of Punjab belonging to various walks of life from New York are being made for pushing the secessionist agenda of his self-styled organization Sikhs for Justice, said the AIG.