BHOPAL: A protest by kid students of a madrasa-cum-English medium school in support of their Principal in Mandsaur district of Madhya Pradesh on Monday ended up being interpreted and circulated over social media as a protest by anti-nationals raising pro-Pakistan slogans.
But alert commoners, including local scribe Akash Chauhan and circle SP (CSP-Mandsaur) Narendra Solanki, timely found out the truth of the matter – kids were raising Sabir Sahab Zindabad and not Pakistan Zindabad slogans as being circulated over social media platforms.
“Alert citizens, including journalist Akash Chauhan helped us timely detect (with the help of forensic experts) that the children of the Madarsa were raising Sabir Sahab Zindabad slogans in support of their school principal and not the Pakistan Zindabad slogans, as being portrayed in large sections of social media. The timely action saved the non-issue from becoming a possible law and order issue in the communally sensitive Khanpura locality of Mandsaur town,” Solanki told The New Indian Express.
“We’ve received a bunch of screenshots about how the small issue was wrongly interpreted and circulated over social media as an anti-national protest carried out by small children. We’re identifying those Mandsaur district residents who circulated/shared the video clips after wrongly interpreting as pro-Pakistan protests by kids of the Madarsa-cum-School. Preventive action will be taken against them in the form of bound over notices to them under CrPc, cautioning them not to indulge in such acts which could endanger peace and amity in future,” said Solanki.
The incident happened in communally sensitive Khanpura locality of Mandsaur town on Monday morning, when kids studying at a Madarsa-cum-school came out of the educational institution raising slogans in support of their Principal Sabir Panwala, apprehending that the school was going to be closed and the Principal could be sacked in the wake of enduring dispute between institution’s chairman and secretary.
Within a short span of time, the Sabir Sahab Zindabad protests turned into Pakistan Zindabad protests over the social media, with several social media groups in West MP and adjoining Rajasthan circulating it on WhatsApp and Facebook as Madarsa children raising Pakistan Zindabad slogans in MP’s Mandsaur.
Subsequently, a group of local residents and some members of a saffron outfit met the CSP-Mandsaur and submitted a memorandum, demanding action against the Madarsa-cum-school administration, which was behind the “anti-national” protest by kids.
Sensing the gravity of the issue in Mandsaur, which has in the past witnessed serious law and order problems during 2017 farmers unrest, violent protests after 2018 kidnapping and rape of a minor and the murder of Nagar Palika chairman BJP leader thereafter, the local journalists Akash Chauhan along with some other residents met the CSP-Mandsaur.
“We zeroed in on the video of the protest and got it’s speed slowed down with the help of cyber forensic experts. Then we listened to it again several times after which it became clear that the kids were raising Sabir Sahab Zindabad slogans and not Pakistan Zindabad slogans as being circulated over social media,” said Akash Chauhan.