Case filed over alleged pro-Pakistan sloganeering at Indore protest against Pahalgam attack

The Madhya Pradesh Police have registered a case against unidentified persons after a video from a week-old protest in Indore against the Pahalgam terror attack went viral in which ‘Pakistan zindabad’ slogans could allegedly be heard, a police officer said on Thursday.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Indore Zone 1, Vinod Kumar Meena, told The Hindu that a protest had been organised on April 25 at Badwali in Sadar Bazaar by the local Muslim community for which multiple police personnel were deployed. He said that a video of the demonstration went viral on Wednesday.

“The protestors were shouting ‘Pakistan murdabad’ and ‘atankwad murdabad,’ but two chants of ‘Pakistan zindabad’ could also be heard in the beginning of the video,” Mr. Meena said.

The video also shows demonstrators burning an effigy of Pakistan and hitting it with shoes.

The DCP said that the video has been sent to the forensic department to verify its authenticity.

“We are also gathering more videos from the protest taken by other attendees and police personnel to verify the allegations and see if the same chants were heard,” he said.

Mr. Meena said that an FIR has been filed under Section 196(1)(b) and an investigation has been launched.

“Since, no permission was taken for the protest, we are not sure which body organised it. We’re working to identify people from the videos to get more clarity on what happened there,” he added.