Magsaysay winner claims to have been house arrested over Article 370 dharna

Lucknow: Social activist and Ramon Magsaysay awardee Sandeep Pandey alleged to have been briefly put under house arrest on Sunday to prevent him from taking part in a dharna in Lucknow against the scrapping of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status.

The charge was denied by the Uttar Pradesh police stating that no policeman went to Pandey’s residence to prevent him from leaving his home.

A demonstration was planned at the Gandhi statue in Hazratganj on Sunday. A police team visited Shoaib’s house in the morning, The Indian Express reported.

“The policemen told me that they are busy with festival duty and requested me to call off the protest. I agreed to their demand and postponed it. The protest will now be held on August 16,” Shoaib said.

Pandey alleged to have been stopped by police when he stepped out to buy bread around 1:30 pm.

“Policemen told me that I could not step outside the house until 4 pm. I told them that the protest had been postponed but even then, they did not allow me to go out. I called up my friends and informed them about this,” said Pandey. He said the policemen left around 2 pm.

Police denied that any police team went to Pandey’s house. Circle Officer, Qaiserbagh, Sanjeev Kumar said, “A police team went to Mohammad Shoaib’s residence to convey that there is a High Court direction that no one can hold a protest at the Gandhi statue. We advised him to go to Eco Garden, which has been made the official protest site.”