Dehradun: Uttarakhand police will now keep track of social media behaviour pattern of those frequently posting 'anti-national' and 'anti-social' posts, said Ashok Kumar, police chief of Uttarakhand on Tuesday on the concluding day of State police officers' conference in Dehradun.
The state police will keep track of such people and will mention this while verifying their documents for passport and arms license.
This will make it almost impossible to get an arms license or passport for such people.
Earlier, the state police would counsel the person asking her/him not to indulge in any such behaviour in the future instead of booking a person right away.
"We will scrutinise social media accounts to determine if such posts are coming up frequently. The police would mention this in that person's police verification and may not clear the application for passport or arms license," added the DGP.
Officials from the department said that the move comes after alleged 'surge' in such posts and social media accounts.
The development was among other measures discussed by the police officers during the conference to improve policing in the state. It included weekly leave relief for police personnel at police posts, crackdown and confiscation of properties of those indulging in cybercrime, drug peddling, and improving the communication with people of the state.
Legal experts termed the move as meddling with fundamental rights of freedom of expression.
Avtar Singh Rawat, senior advocate from Uttarakhand Hugh Court and Supreme Court of India commenting on the issue said, "This will amount to a violation of freedom. of expression if misused. There are high chances that this move will result in high handedness of the law enforcement agencies."