B’luru woman held, jailed for holding ‘Free Kashmir’ placard

Feb 22, 2020
Bengaluru: Ardra alias Annapurna Narayan, the 24-year-old woman who was detained for holding a ‘Free Kashmir’ placard in the city a day ago, was arrested and remanded to 14-day judicial custody, police said on Saturday.

“Ardra was arrested and sent to central prison for 14-day judicial custody after we booked a suo motu case against her under sections 153A and 153B of the IPC for holding a placard with anti-national slogans in Kannada at Town Hall in the city, deputy commissioner of police (central) Chetan Singh Rathod told IANS here.

The police whisked away Ardra on Friday afternoon from the venue to the nearby police station and questioned her for carrying the placard with “Free Kahmir, Free Dalit, Free Muslim, Free Trans and Free Adivasi” words in Kannada.

The incident occurred a day after 19-year-old student activist Amulya Leona was booked, arrested and jailed for 14 days remand on Friday for shouting ‘Pakistan zindabad’ at an anti-CAA rally at Freedom Park in the city centre on Thursday night.

“Ardra and Amulya have been lodged in the same cell in the women’s ward of the Parpanna Agrahara jail on the city’s southern outskirts for their safety and security, a prison official told IANS.

The police have set up two teams to interrogate Amulya and Ardra separately and ascertain reasons for their anti-national actions and investigate if they acted alone or at the behest of other individuals or organisations.

“Amulya was booked under 125A for sedition and Ardra for promoting enmity between two groups and indulging in anti-national activity,” said Rathod.

A group of pro-Hindu activists who were at the venue (Town Hall) to stage a protest sit-in against Amulya spotted Ardra standing alone on the footsteps and holding the placard with the slogans.

“A patrolling vehicle was rushed to the venue after we received a call from one of the protesters that a young woman was holding a placard with negative slogans written on it in Kannada. We rescued Ardra in time and prevented her from being assaulted by anyone there,” Rathod recalled.