NEW DELHI — Goa Police detained a protester identified as Danish Mohammad in Panaji for allegedly carrying “Free Umar Khalid” placard at agathering organised to express solidarity with protests held at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi and to celebrate the resignation of Dhrmendra Pradhan, former Union Mnister of Education as tension erupted after BJP workers clashed with protesters on Saturday night.
According to the report published in Times of India,Danish was detained and released on Sunday after BJP workers complained that he displayed a placard reading “Free Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam”.
An activist Sudeep Dalvi. was also detained on charges of outraging the modesty of a woman and allegedly used abusive language against her. According to the report both, Dansh and Dalvi were part of the celebrtion rally for Pradha’s resignation.
The incident took place around 7 pm, when people gathered at the Azad Maidan in Panaji were raising slogans.
A police officer, requesting anonymity, said, “Some local media persons confronted the man carrying the placard. The police personnel, who were stationed at Azad Maidan for the protest, questioned the man and asked him to produce an identity document (ID). The man said he was not carrying an ID,” The Indian Express reported.
Police said to avoid a law-and-order situation, the man was brought to the Panaji police station for “questioning”. In a purported video clip, a police officer could be seen asking them to produce an ID.
Some BJP Yuva Morcha (BJYM) workers staged a sit-in protest outside the Panaji Police Station, demanding that a case be registered against protesters displaying “Free Umar Khalid” placards at the gathering.
Earlier on Wednesday, a protest was held at Azad Maidan in Panaji, after BJP vice-president Narendra Sawaikar had triggered a controversy by putting a post on social media, saying “cockroaches are with termites”. In a post on X Monday night, Sawaikar said: “Cockroaches with the termites! Save the nation!” His post drew criticism from the Opposition parties, who demanded an apology from the BJP leader for using “disgraceful and dehumanising language” to refer to the protesters who had carried out a solidarity march in Panaji.
Meanwhile,a member of the Ujwaad student orgaisation, Amreen Shaikh, who participated in the protest in Mapusa over the NEET paper leak, was called to the police station for questioning.
