AsiaNet-Pakistan Premier Editorial Content and Press Release Distribution Service
New Delhi, January 05, 2020 (PPI-OT): Former Indian Administrative Service [IAS] officer Kannan Gopinathan, who quit the services over imposition of military siege and lockdown in occupied Jammu and Kashmir after abrogation of Article 370, was detained by Agra police while he was on his way to Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) to deliver a speech on the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act and National Register Certificate.
Gopinathan was invited by the AMU Resident Doctors’ Association (RDA) to express his views at a public discussion on CAA, NPR [National Population Register] and NRC. Gopinathan had tweeted on Saturday afternoon that he had been detained from the UP border, near Agra.
He said, “I have never made any provocative speech. Why I was illegally detained? I told them this was a kidnapping. The police personnel did not take me to the police station. First they took me to a dhaba and then to the dak bungalow,” he said.
Alleging that the government was scared of being questioned, the former IAS officer said, “They aren’t allowing anyone to speak. The government is scared of dissent and dubs any kind of educated dissent ‘urban naxalism’.” According to Agra administration, Gopinathan was detained at Saiyan toll plaza on Agra-Gwalior highway and was taken to a rest house (dak bungalow) in Kheragarh.
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