KOLKATA: A Chinese tourist was arrested and booked under several sections of IPC, Aircraft Act and Foreigners Act and sent to 8-day police custody for clicking photographs of Victoria Memorial here using a drone.
The photographed area is at a strategic location housing the Indian Army Eastern Command Headquarters at Fort William and other military installations near which flying drones is strictly prohibited.
Li Zhiwei (34), a resident of Shenzen in southwestern China, was spotted flying a drone over Victoria Memorial and controlling it using his phone on Saturday.
CISF personnel apprehended Zhiwei and handed him over to the Kolkata Police who booked him under Section 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant), 287 (negligent conduct with respect to machinery) and 336 (act endangering life or personal safety of others) of Indian Penal Code along with sections under Aircraft Act and Foreigners Act. Zhiwei had reached Kolkata from Malaysia on a tourist visa on Friday night.
However, when produced in Bankshal Court on Sunday, Zhiwei claimed he was unaware of Indian law and had never faced legal action while clicking drone photographs in Indonesia and Phillipines. Nevertheless, state counsel urged the court to consider the case as a ‘matter of national security’.