India News | Two More Held for 'indecent' Sloganeering Against UP Minister

Ballia (UP), Jul 6 (PTI) Two people were arrested on Tuesday for allegedly indulging in indecent sloganeering against Uttar Pradesh Minister of State for Sports Upendra Tiwari and his family members, police said.

Three others, including a former member of the zila panchayat, surrendered in the court, they said.

On Monday, five Samajwadi Party workers were arrested in this connection , police said.

According to police, accused Vishal Yadav and Rajendra Yadav were arrested on Tuesday in connection with alleged sloganeering after the election to the post of chairman of zila panchayat.

Besides these two, a former member of the zila panchayat, Dinesh Yadav and Amit Yadav and Raj Mangal Yadav surrendered before the court, police said.

The state police had on Sunday registered a case against 10 people, including newly-elected chairperson of zila panchayat Anand Chaudhary and his father, Ambika Chaudhary, who was a minister in the Samajwadi Party governments and hundreds of others unidentified people for allegedly indulging in indecent sloganeering against Tiwari.

Junking the allegations, Ambika Chaudhary claimed Rajendra is close to BJP leaders and released pictures of him with Tiwari, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Anand Swarup and BJP MP Neeraj Shekhar.

According to police, a video in which SP workers can be purportedly seen indulging in sloganeering against Tiwari went viral on social media following which BJP leaders of the district met SP Vipin Tada at his residence.

Tiwari had alleged that the SP workers had abused his mother and sister.

"In the video, expletives were hurled at my mother and sister. In 75 districts of the state, elections for the zila panchayat chairpersons were held, but this situation did not come up in the 74 other districts," the minister had stated.

Tiwari's family has demanded that the accused be booked under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act as the slogans targeted his two minor daughters aged nine and 11 along with his mother.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)