A poster in UP: 24 hrs for Azam Khan’s buffaloes, 3 weeks for my bull?

The police have registered an FIR against the owner of a missing bull for putting up controversial posters targeting senior Uttar Pradesh minister Mohd Azam Khan.

Manoj Kumar Pandey, a resident of Baraipur, put up posters at several locations, including one on a road leading to the Sarnath police station posing the question as to why the police failed to recover the bull even after three weeks though Khan’s lost buffaloes were found in 24 hours a few years ago. The FIR was lodged against Pandey on Wednesday evening.

Seven buffaloes were stolen from Khan’s farmhouse in Rampur in February 2014. Three policemen were removed for dereliction of duty. The buffaloes were found three days later.

The poster further read, “As you are in power, police recovered your buffaloes within 24 hours. Since I am a commoner, my bull was not recovered in 24 days.” The bull, Badshah, went missing from Baraipur village. In the poster, Pandey put a morphed picture of the minister and his buffalo.

Circle officer Cantonment area Rajkumar Yadav told HT, “Putting up such a controversial poster is a serious matter. A case under relevant sections of the IPC has been registered against Pandey and a police team has been constituted to arrest him. He will be in our custody soon.”

Pandey has been booked under sections 295A (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings or any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) and 501 (printing or engraving matter known to be defamatory) of the IPC.

The police are also interrogating Pandey’s kin.