Poster case: Mayawati orders release of 4 arrested students

Reprimanding the police for the arrest and detention of four school students for allegedly discolouring her posters during Holi,UP Chief Minister Mayawati on Wednesday directed their ‘immediate’ release.

The four students of UP Sainik School here,who are appearing for their XII board exams,were arrested on Holi night on charges of damaging public property and a case had been lodged against them under the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act. They were later sent to a reformatory home for juveniles,according to official sources.

Taking serious exception to action taken against the students for their ‘petty mistake’,Mayawati said she talked to the Lucknow DIG and asked him why they had been punished so harshly and that too during their exams. “I have asked him to release them immediately,” she told a press conference here.