Ex-Congress MLA arrested on sedition charges for social media posts on LAC standoff

Former Congress MLA Neeraj Bharti was arrested by Himachal Pradesh Police on charges of sedition on Friday. Bharti who is an ex-MLA from Jawali and is also a former Chief Parliamentary Secretary (CPS) was booked for his questionable social media posts over Galwan valley face-off where 20 Indian soldiers lost ir lives. 

He was called in by  CID wing of Himachal police for questioning between June 24-26 after a case was registered against him for three posts he put out on Facebook regarding India and China-LAC standoff. By end of his questioning, former Congress MLA was detained by police for furr investigation. He will be produced before  chief judicial magistrate's (CJM) court on Saturday.

case was filed against him by an advocate on June 20 and police registered his offence under sections 1124A (sedition),153A (promoting enmity between different groups), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace) and 505 (statements conducing to public mischief). 

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India-China faceoff

20 Indian Army soldiers including a Commanding Officer were martyred when a violent faceoff took place on June 15 when de-escalation process was underway in  Galwan Valley. As per Editor-in-Chief of Chinese newspaper Global Times, Chinese side also suffered casualties during physical clash. On June 18, Indian Army revealed that a total of 76 personnel had been injured out of which 18 admitted to Leh hospital can resume duty in about 15 days. As per Army,  remaining 58 soldiers should be back on duty within a week's time. 

At 15th meeting of  Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on India-China Border Affairs (WMCC) on Wednesday, India stressed that both sides must strictly respect LAC. Recalling previous week's conversation between External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, both sides reaffirmed that understanding on disengment and de-escalation that was reached by senior Commanders on June 6 should be implemented. delegations from India and China agreed that expeditious implementation of this understanding would help ensure peace in border areas and develop broader relationship between two countries.

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