New Delhi: Manjunath Bhajantri, deputy commissioner (DC) of Deoghar in Jharkhand, was booked on Saturday, September 3, for sedition as well as other offences under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) following a row with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MPs Nishikant Dubey and Manoj Tiwari for their ‘forcibly’ getting clearance for their chartered plane to take off from Deoghar Airport.
The case against Bhajantri was lodged hours after Dubey, Tiwari and seven others were booked by Jharkhand police for violating airport safety norms and entering into the Air Traffic Control (ATC) room at the airport to secure clearance for their chartered plane to take off on August 31.
Following the incident, a Twitter war broke out between the DC and the BJP legislators, eventually culminating in cross-FIRs being filed.
The airport incident
The BJP leaders had travelled to Jharkhand’s Dumka to meet the family of a 19-year-old women who had been burnt alive. While the legislators were there, the issue boiled over into a major controversy, with right-wing groups such as the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) staging protests and the police enforcing prohibitory orders on assembly in the subdivision on August 28.
Thereafter, the BJP leaders and others were scheduled to depart from Deoghar airport on the evening of August 31. However, the airport had only been inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on July 12 and was yet to get clearance for night takeoffs.
According to a complaint filed on September 1 by Suman Anand, the security in-charge of the airport, all nine individuals in question had violated safety standards by entering the ATC room and forcibly getting clearance for takeoff, despite the airport not having clearance for the same.
The nine individuals include BJP MPs Tiwari and Dubey, Deby’s two sons, Deoghar Airport director Sandeep Dhingra and others.
Following the registration of the FIR against these nine persons, a Twitter argument broke out between Dubey and DC Bhajantri.
Also read: Jharkhand: Section 144 In Dumka After Protests Following Death Of Woman Set On Fire
The Twitter spat
On September 2, the official Twitter handle of the Deoghar DC posted a thread in which it said that CCTV footage of the ATC building showed that many people had entered the premises without appropriate authorisation on August 31. As such, it said in Hindi, “It is clear that the passengers entered the ATC in violation of the security standards of airport operations, despite the absence of night operation facilities, ignoring the safety of the passengers, without the clearance. Pressure was created.”
Dubey responded to this Tweet, saying, “This is the style of a criminal who forcibly breaks through the security cordon without permission,” going on to question Bhajantri’s authority to enter the airport and review the CCTV footage.
This prompted Bhajantri to respond from his personal Twitter handle, saying that he had taken a legitimate entry pass and that as DC, he is a member of the board of directors of the airport.
A prolonged back and forth followed on the social media platform between Dubey and Bhajantri. Dubey asked who allowed the DC to enter the ATC building, to which Bhajantri responded that he never entered the building in the first place, saying that the matter should be left to ‘competent authorities’ to investigate.
Dubey went on to accuse Bhajantri of violating a Supreme Court order and “breaching national security” by accessing the CCTV footage, which prompted a number of questions in response from Bhajantri.
The spat continued thereafter with each side questioning the other’s authority and trading insults. Eventually, the FIR against Dubey, Tiwari and nine others was registered.
Case against DC Bhajantri
Following the FIR against the BJP leaders and others, a ‘zero FIR’ was filed by the Delhi police against Bhajantri and some Jharkhand police personnel on the basis of a complaint by Dubey. They were charged with sedition as well as provisions of the Official Secrets Act (OSA) and the IPC.
A ‘zero FIR’ can be filed in any jurisdiction irrespective of where the alleged offence took place and is transferred thereafter to the police force with appropriate jurisdiction.
Also read: Supreme Court Puts Sedition Law In Abeyance During Government ‘Review’
In the FIR, Dubey says that after he checked in at the airport around 5:30 pm, he went to meet the director of the airport to enquire about the issue with the night takeoff facility, given that the case is sub judice in the Jharkhand high court.
There, he claims, he and his sons were stopped by Jharkhand police and the latter were “abused”.
“They also threatened to kill me and did this on the direction of Deoghar’s deputy commissioner Manjunath Bhajantri, “Dubey alleged in the complaint, according to news agency PTI.
Thereafter, on September 3, Union civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said that a thorough probe into the incident will reveal the truth. His remarks came in response to a question by reporters while the minister was in Madhya Pradesh.
(With PTI inputs)