Former IAS officer Kannan Gopinathan was released by the Uttar Pradesh police on Saturday, 4 January, after being detained at the state border while he was on his way to speak at an event hosted by Aligarh Muslim University.
Gopinathan was headed to the university to speak at an event against the CAA, NPR and NRC, along with activist Kavitha Krishnan and others.
Gopinathan had made headlines in August last year for quitting the civil services over the Centre’s decision to scrap Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir.
In a series of tweets on Saturday morning, Gopinathan said that he has been detained at the border and was being taken to a local eatery in Agra.
Gopinathan said that the Aligarh District administration had asked him not to attend the event based on the orders it received from the UP government. The former civil servant, however, tweeted that he would be attending the event despite the order.
‘Detained in Agra but Order Is for Aligarh’
Gopinathan also noted in his tweets that though the order denying him entry was only within Aligarh district limits, he had been detained in Agra.
This order by the district magistrate notes that since similar events hosted in Aligarh –like the one in which Yogendra Yadav and Dr Kafeel Khan had participated in – had disrupted peace, Kannan Gopinathan should not be permitted to enter Aligarh for the programme.
According to this report in The News Minute, Gopinathan told local media persons that the cops had been trying to confiscate his phone.
“There is no order that prohibits me from entering Agra. The police here have taken me to a hotel. They have been continuously trying to take my phone away. If they manage to do so, I will not be able to contact anyone in sometime,” he reportedly said.
(With inputs from The News Minute)
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)