Youth who had hurled shoe at PM detained during his visit
Engg student Hitesh Chauhan was released after Singh left city on Saturday evening
Yogesh Avasthi
Posted On Monday, March 28, 2011 (http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/index.aspx?Page=article§name=News - City§id=3&contentid=2011032820110328032344524dbffe635)
Hitesh Chauhan, the engineering student who hurled shoe at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during his visit to the city in 2009, had to spent a night at Bapunagar the police station after cops detained him as a preventive measure on Friday. The prime minister was on a day-long visit of the city on Saturday.
Twenty-three-year-old Chauhan is more famously known for hurling a shoe at Singh during his visit on April 26, 2009. The young student wanted to raise his voice against corruption in the government and unemployment in the country.
Chauhan was been arrested and released after the prime minister pardoned him. About seven months ago, he had written a letter to him, seeking an appointment during his next visit to Ahmedabad. He had written in the letter that he had “hurled only one shoe” at the prime minister but the latter had “hurled a lot of shoes, including inflation, corruption and steps leading to farmer’s deaths” at the people.
On Friday, the cops telephoned him at his institute hostel and asked him to come to the police station to sign documents that had to be sent to the chief minister’s office. When Chauhan reached the police station at 11.30 pm on Friday he was promptly detained and his mobile phone was switched off.
Chauhan learnt that the signing of documents was a ploy to get him to the police station. He was released at 9 pm on Saturday. “The police told me that they were detaining me on the orders of the police commissioner who had been told by the Delhi Police to detain me,” Chauhan said. An unrepentant Chauhan called his detention a “murder of democracy”.
“When I had hurled the shoe at the prime minister, I wanted to raise my voice against corruption in the government. I had sought an appointment with him during his next visit to the city and I expected him to grant it to me as a citizen of India. I intended to attend the IIM’s convocation programme to hear him, meet him if possible, and put my points across but had no intention of repeating the shoe-hurling act. I was detained by the police instead.”
Chauhan claimed that he had explained the reasons for hurling the shoe at the prime minister in his letter. “I had told him that I felt that as a citizen of India I had every right to meet him. As a responsible citizen, I have stood in long queues and voted during elections,” he claimed.
Bapunagar PI RD Lashkari admitted that Chauhan was detained for a day. “We detained him because of the past incident. We later released him.”
Yogesh Avasthi
Posted On Monday, March 28, 2011 (http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/index.aspx?Page=article§name=News - City§id=3&contentid=2011032820110328032344524dbffe635)
Hitesh Chauhan, the engineering student who hurled shoe at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during his visit to the city in 2009, had to spent a night at Bapunagar the police station after cops detained him as a preventive measure on Friday. The prime minister was on a day-long visit of the city on Saturday.
Twenty-three-year-old Chauhan is more famously known for hurling a shoe at Singh during his visit on April 26, 2009. The young student wanted to raise his voice against corruption in the government and unemployment in the country.
Chauhan was been arrested and released after the prime minister pardoned him. About seven months ago, he had written a letter to him, seeking an appointment during his next visit to Ahmedabad. He had written in the letter that he had “hurled only one shoe” at the prime minister but the latter had “hurled a lot of shoes, including inflation, corruption and steps leading to farmer’s deaths” at the people.
On Friday, the cops telephoned him at his institute hostel and asked him to come to the police station to sign documents that had to be sent to the chief minister’s office. When Chauhan reached the police station at 11.30 pm on Friday he was promptly detained and his mobile phone was switched off.
Chauhan learnt that the signing of documents was a ploy to get him to the police station. He was released at 9 pm on Saturday. “The police told me that they were detaining me on the orders of the police commissioner who had been told by the Delhi Police to detain me,” Chauhan said. An unrepentant Chauhan called his detention a “murder of democracy”.
“When I had hurled the shoe at the prime minister, I wanted to raise my voice against corruption in the government. I had sought an appointment with him during his next visit to the city and I expected him to grant it to me as a citizen of India. I intended to attend the IIM’s convocation programme to hear him, meet him if possible, and put my points across but had no intention of repeating the shoe-hurling act. I was detained by the police instead.”
Chauhan claimed that he had explained the reasons for hurling the shoe at the prime minister in his letter. “I had told him that I felt that as a citizen of India I had every right to meet him. As a responsible citizen, I have stood in long queues and voted during elections,” he claimed.
Bapunagar PI RD Lashkari admitted that Chauhan was detained for a day. “We detained him because of the past incident. We later released him.”
