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Journalism of Courage
The Republic Day celebration at Pehowa town in Haryana was marred by unruly scenes and sloganeering on Thursday as a Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader voiced her protest against minister Sandeep Singh, who was the chief guest at the function.
Singh, the BJP minister of state (printing and stationery), has been booked in a sexual harassment case and various khaps in Haryana had protested the announcement that he would unfurl the national flag at Pehowa, his constituency.
On Thursday, as Singh, the former sports and youth affairs minister, was seated on stage, Sonia Duhan, the head of the NCP’s youth wing in Haryana, began shouting slogans. Witnessing the ruckus, police personnel tried to take Duhan away. At the same time, the national anthem began but Duhan did not stop shouting slogans against Singh. Duhan, who reached the venue from Narnaund, Hisar, was eventually taken into custody and taken to the police station.
The Chandigarh police had booked Singh after a woman coach accused him of sexual harassment, besides various other offences punishable under Indian Penal Code. He was not available for comment.
With the police anticipating protests, there was heavy police deployment in and around the venue on Thursday. A number of Aam Aadmi Party supporters, mainly women, were also stopped from entering the venue and detained by the police.
Duhan had hit the headlines in November 2019 when she ‘rescued’ four MLAs who had been incommunicado after NCP’s Ajit Pawar took oath as deputy chief minister in Maharashtra. Members of NCP’s youth wing led by Duhan had located the MLAs at a five-star hotel in Gurgaon’s Udyog Vihar.
