Anti-ballot Gandhigiri of man lands him in Gzb jail

March 22, 2009: The Times of India

Ghaziabad: In an appalling case of gagging a protest against corruption, the police on Friday arrested a 58-yearold man for calling upon voters to boycott the Lok Sabha polls to keep ‘looters’ and ‘frauds’ out of politics. 

However, even as Deepak Chaturvedi was readily granted bail by a local judicial magistrate, the police said they were examining if provisions of the law for sedition could be invoked in his case. 

Chaturvedi, who also publishes a modest weekly newspaper from Ghaziabad, had earlier called on voters to boycott the Lok Sabha polls for 10 years to bring about a change in the current ‘stinking’ and ‘corrupt’ politics. 

Besides President’s rule in the country, he had also called for a non-violent satyagrah to cleanse politics of corruption. 

On Friday afternoon, he entered the district magistrate’s office compound distributing pamphlets, but the waiting policemen whisked him away to the Kavi Nagar police station.

When asked why such an action was taken, a police officer said, ‘‘Chaturvedi was arrested under Section 127 A of the Representation of People Act, which lays down that all posters and pamphlets printed after the Model Code of Conduct has come into force should carry the names and addresses of the printer and publisher. Failing this, the election office should be informed of these and other details within three days.’’ 

The officer, however, did not respond when told that Section 127 A pertains to the printing and distribution of election posters/pamphlets and Chaturvedi was not contesting any election. 

According to Chaturvedi, who has worked as an executive in Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited in the past and is reportedly a post graduate in psychology from Bhopal University,

‘‘Ten years without Lok Sabha polls — with the Lok Sabha in limbo — would cause far reaching changes in politics and its ethics. This will be sufficient time for the polity to be cleansed.’’ 

Chaturvedi, who claims to be a reincarnation of Mahatma Gandhi, has three sons, while his wife died three years ago. He further said, ‘‘At Dasna Jail, where I spent Friday night, officials looked after me very well and made arrangements for me to feel at home.’’