Police Commissioner sees Pakistan ‘hand’ in kolam protest by activist

Speaking to media persons at his office, the Commissioner said that the Facebook profile of Gayatri Khandhadai, one of the eight persons booked, claimed that she works as a researcher for an organisation called Bytes For All (B4A), Pakistan.

“The organisation is part of The Association of All Pakistan Citizen Journalists (AAPCJ). A few organisations here also support her. We will probe the level of her links with Pakistan to get more details,” the Commissioner said.

The Commissioner also clarified on the booking of eight people in connection with the kolam protests at Besant Nagar. “The organisers sought police permission to protest against CAA and NRC, which was denied. But police did not interfere when they went ahead with the protests and drew about eight kolams. The problem started only when they drew ‘No CAA/ No NRC’ next to an already-drawn kolam in front of a house. The house owner opposed it but the protesters did not budge. That is when the police detained them,” he said. He also showed video evidence of a nonagenarian shouting that anti-CAA messages were drawn in front of his house without his permission.

While Gayatri Khandhadai was not available for her reaction regarding the allegations levelled against her by the police, an advocate who was also booked along with Gayatri for the kolam protests, claimed that all these allegations are baseless. “Gayathri works for an India-based NGO. The information on her Facebook profile is not what the police project. It is likely that she works for an international rights’ group and their way of operation could be different,” he clarified.

The website of Bytes for All (B4A), Pakistan, claimed that it is a human rights organisation and a research think tank with a focus on Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). B4A also organises research-based advocacy campaigns on issues related to development.

This advocacy work includes informed discussions on relevant topics, presentation of findings, mobilising opinions, organising forums, lobbying for policy changes or implementation and so on, according to the website.

The social media monitoring team comprising members of the city and State police are keeping a vigil on nearly 1,500 Facebook and Twitter accounts, police sources said. In the city, nearly 400 ‘suspicious’ accounts are under scanner and they have further zeroed in on 10 to 12 accounts which police allege have ‘links with Pakistan’. And one of the social media accounts the police team has been digging into belongs to Gayatri Khandhadai. Police looking through social media claim many such accounts may not have a real name but may be fuelled by an ideology. “One can see the vigorous, continuous pattern in such accounts. These account holders react, follow their passion/ ideology and like to be present physically where the action is,” a source said. Sleuths are keeping a watch on accounts which have declared ideologies and agendas. “It is easy to monitor such accounts. But accounts with pseudo names are tough to monitor, but are certainly under watch,” the source added. Police are expected to dig deeper into 12 accounts which they suspect have links with other countries / banned outfits.