3 held for writing pro-Khalistan slogans near Mata Chintpurni Temple in HP’s Una

Three youths have been arrested from Punjab for writing pro-Khalistan slogans near Mata Chintpurni Temple in Himachal Pradesh’s Una district on November 29, police on Sunday said.

Una Superintendent of Police (SP) told PTI that the accused were nabbed from Dhesiya and Surja villages in Punjab’s Jalandhar district for writing pro-Khalistan graffiti.

The three youths were brought to the Chintpurni police station after their arrest, he added.

An amount of Rs 25,000 was deposited in the account of one of the three accused from a foreign nation and he was also promised Rs 25,000 more after the task was done, police said. The other two accompanied the main accused, police said, adding further investigation is underway.

The three accused, who wrote Khalistan Zindabad and Himachal Banega Khalistan slogans on the walls in the vicinity of Mata Chintpurni Temple, were identified as Phool Chand (26), Arjinder Singh (28) and Harry (21), police said.

A video of Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, the chief of the banned outfit Sikhs For Justice, surfaced on the internet in which he was seen showing the graffiti on the walls and saying that the Congress leaders allegedly involved in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots would not be spared. This was not the first time that such an incident has been witnessed in the state.

On May 7 last year, pro-Khalistan banners and graffiti were hoisted on the outer boundary of the Himachal Pradesh Assembly in Dharamshala.

A case under sections 153-A and 153-B of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and section 3 of the HP Open Places (Prevention of Disfigurement) Act, 1985, has been registered in the matter. Based on the video clip, Pannun was named as a co-accused and main conspirator in this case and booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).