Release ‘innocent’, demands Hooda

Tribune News Service

Rohtak, May 4

Coming out in support of khaps and other Jat organisations demanding the withdrawal of cases registered in connection with the recent Jat agitation for reservation, former Chief Minister and veteran Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda has also sought the release of ‘innocent’ youths arrested for the stir.

Addressing a press conference here today, Hooda stated that he had been approached by many people who maintained that several innocent persons had been arrested/jailed in connection with the agitation.

“The state government should release such persons and refrain from arresting any youth just because he participated in the agitation. Staging a demonstration is a democratic right of all residents and arresting somebody for this is wrong,” the two-time Chief Minister maintained.

The Congress leader reiterated his demand for an inquiry into the entire arson and violence by a sitting Judge of the Supreme Court. He remarked that the law-and-order mechanism in Haryana had collapsed and it seemed that there was no government in the state during the Jat agitation.

On being questioned about the surfacing of Congress factionalism at the recent party function in Karnal, Hooda quipped that slogans had been raised in support of different Congress leaders, which indicated the party’s strength.