‘Anti-national’ posts or protest could peril passports, loans or jobs in Bihar, Uttarakhand

DEHRADUN/PATNA: Posting something on social media deemed “anti-national” could bar people from getting passports and arms licences in Uttarakhand. Meanwhile, joining a protest or staging a blockade could bar people from getting bank loans, government jobs and a host of other services in Bihar. However, soon after the orders, issued by the police chiefs of the respective states,created a controversy, DGPs in both the states said there was “nothing new” in the basic structure of the rules they were implementing.
At the conclusion of the Police Officers’ Conference in Dehradun on Tuesday, Uttarakhand DGP Ashok Kumar said at a press conference that police will maintain a database of social media activity that is “anti-national” or “anti-social” to be used for police verification when someone applies for a passport or arms licence.The decision was taken at the two-day conference.
A senior Uttarakhand Police official told TOI: “The decision will have an impact only on those who post anti-national content which compromises the sovereignty and security of the country, and can be a threat to law and order.”
A day before Uttarakhand announced it is widening the scope of social media scrutiny, Bihar had decided to keep an eye on protests. Bihar DGP SK Singhal’s order, issued on Monday, listed nine services for which police verification is needed: government jobs, work contracts for government projects, arms licences, passports, character certificates, licences for petrol pumps and gas agencies, bank loans, contractual work for government-aided organisations, and any other work for which police may consider a verification necessary.
An act of “unlawful” protest could disqualify someone. “If any person, after being part of a law and order situation, protests, road blockades, etc, is found to be involved in any criminal activity and is charge-sheeted in the case then related information must be entered into a character verification report. Such persons would have to be ready for serious consequences because they won’t be able to get a government job or contract,” the order, issued as an annexure to a letter from additional chief secretary (home) Amir Subhani, added.
By Thursday, amid a controversy over the rules, police in both states said they were not changing rules but only enforcing them more strictly.
“In the verification process, police already ascertains whether the applicant has indulged or is likely to indulge in activities which are prejudicial to the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of India or the interests of the general public. Along with checking the criminal record, we have now included social media behaviour as part of the verification process,” Uttarakhand DGP Ashok Kumar said on Thursday.
In Bihar, ADG (headquarters) Jitendra Kumar told TOI that all points mentioned in the order are already in practice as per rules. “Only instructions have been reiterated for properly following it and providing a report within the stipulated time frame as per law. There is nothing new in the letter,” he said. “If there is any information present against anyone in the files of a police station concerned, then it would be entered into the verification report of character … Nowhere is the order impinging on anyone’s rights to protest.”