Hundreds of thousands of farmers have been protesting on the outskirts of Delhi for nearly two weeks, blocking many of the main arteries into the capital. They have expressed their anger against the three farm bills passed by the Modi government.
Meanwhile, in a disturbing incident that reportedly took place in Uttar Pradesh, a man lost his job over a Facebook comment. The victim, identified as Vijaypal Singh, had been working at the post of vice-principal in a private school named Akal Academy in Kajri Niranjanpur in Uttar Pradesh. It is said that he has been sacked for a Facebook comment that he made on a viral video relating to the ongoing farmer protests.
Talking to UP Tak, Singh narrated his harrowing tale. He said that he saw a video on November 30 in which a protestor was seen threatening that Prime Minister Modi would meet the same fate as former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Commenting on the video Singh warned against making such threats of assassination. Singh’s counter did not go down well with extremist elements including some locals who started harassing him and threatening him over the phone.
Singh, a resident of Puranpur, stated that he had worked on various positions in the schools run by the particular community. He alleged that being a Hindu he was subjected to extreme harassment by the members of the community. He was taken to the school and was forced to apologise. They even recorded a video of his apology and posted it online. They snatched his phone and posted an apology on social media account.
Singh further alleged that this did not end at the apology, he was held captive for hours and was tortured. He said that he was threatened to write a resignation letter or else he would face dire consequences. Singh said that he started receiving threat calls from national and international numbers. “I am terrified and even scared to leave my house. I worked there for 18 years with utmost dedication and honesty. I consider myself a part of the community (Sikhs)”, said Singh. Expressing helplessness Singh said that he even worked during lockdown when people did not receive salary for months but now after losing his job he faced the challenge to feed his family.
“I am afraid that some untoward incident might happen with me”, said a scared Vijaypal Singh. “I never considered their religion different from mine. I served their religion and this is what I get. I am scared for my life. How will my children survive if something happens to me. I have a teenage daughter and an aged mother with diabetes and heart ailment. My mother is not able to eat, I am not able to eat as I have been receiving threat calls late in the night”, Singh narrated. “How will I live? Is it a crime to be a Hindu? They point out that I belong to a different community”, he added.
Singh broke down narrating the tale of his suffering and said he along with his family will commit suicide. According to Singh, he is being portrayed like a villain while the person in the video was threatening to teach a lesson to Prime Minister Narendra Modi just like ‘they taught Indira Gandhi’. He said that they could have suspended him instead of firing him. The police have reportedly been investigating the matter. CO Puranpur, Pradeep Kumar said that a case has been registered at Puranpur police station on the complaint of the victim. The action will be taken after collecting the evidence.
