Ex-servicemen, protesting for implementation of ‘One Rank, One Pension’ (OROP) at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar on Saturday alleged that they were being harassed by Delhi police adding that some of them were even stalked by “unidentified people.”
According to news agency PTI, Col (retd) Anil Kaul, who’s the media advisor of the United Front of Ex-Servicemen Movement (UFESM), said three veterans – Col Pushpendra Singh, Havildar Major Singh and Havildar Ashok Chauhan – were ‘intercepted by two policemen on Friday’ near South Block when they had gone to meet the Chief of Army Staff (COAS).
“The three had gone to South Block when they were intercepted by two cops. They asked them to come to the police station with them. However, they refused to go with them,” Kaul said.
Kaul claimed the police also offered to drop the trio back to Jantar Mantar, but they declined.
“We think the cops belonged to Parliament Street police station but they refused to reveal their identity… The cops backed off when Col Pushpendra Singh confronted them and asked whether they had any written notice from their superiors which required the veterans to report to the police station,” Group Captain VK Gandhi, general secretary of Indian Ex-Servicemen Movement (IESM) and convenor of UFESM, said.
Major Gen (retd) Satbir Singh, who recently revealed to www.jantakareporter.com that the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had confessed to lying during the elections about implementing OROP, said he too was being stalked by unidentified persons.
Gen Singh, who is the chief negotiator with the government on OROP and chairman of IESM, said that cars of those protesting at Jantar Mantar were also being photographed by police.
“The other day someone was following my car. The cops photographed the cars of those sitting on the fast at Jantar Mantar and the functionaries of UFESM. There is a pressure on us to end the fast,” Gen Singh said.
Col. Anil Kaul (retired) had earlier complained of receiving threats from unknown people.
UFESM on Saturday raked up the Dadri lynching incident demanding a grievance redressal mechanism for the servicemen and their families in the wake of killing of the father of an Air Force corporal.
Mohammad Akhlaq was murdered by a mob of over 100 people in Uttar Pradesh’s Dadri on 28 September over rumours that he had eaten beef inside his house. 7 out of 11 arrest belong to the family of a local BJP leader Sanjay Rana.
Read full coverage on Dadri lynching