Srinagar: Police in Srinagar on Saturday said that the disengagement of woman SPO was not an “ over reach” and an “exclusive strict action”.
A police statement issued on Saturday said “ apropos our earlier press note regarding disengagement of Lady SPO from service for glorifying militancy in Kulgam dated 16 April 2021, it has been found that on various media platforms, a number of vested interests with malafide intentions have put in a lot of efforts into making the incident appear like an “over-reach” and an” excessively strict action”.
Clarifying that the accused woman uttered Pro militancy and pro-secessionist slogans off-camera thus inviting penal action under ULA(P)Act, the police in it’s statement further said “ the uttering made on-camera was live streamed for further dissemination on diverse social media platforms with the intention to cause disruption of an ongoing operation and to incite disaffection towards the State. This is punishable under the Indian Penal Code and ULA(P)Act”.
Stating that “ also, the accused being a police employee, is bound by a code of conduct which was brazenly violated by her and thus the concurrent departmental action has been taken against her, police in it’s statement said “ the household of the accused is a suspected shelter point of an active Hizb-ul-Mujahidin militant namely Aslam Dar and the woman has been on police radar as a suspected OGW ;thus was subjected to search”.
Stating that “it remains to be investigated whether her act was meant as a disruption tactic to aid escape of the said terrorist when the search operation was underway”, police in it’s statement said “no heed should be paid towards those trying to paint the incident in any hue other than a criminal act”.