Indore (Madhya Pradesh): Urban Development and Housing Minister Kailash Vijayvargiya has written to Indore Police Commissioner Santosh Singh, requesting that the Pandey couple, who were booked following a protest outside his house in Nanda Nagar, be considered for release on humanitarian grounds, if permissible under the law.
In a letter dated July 24, Vijayvargiya said the couple appeared to have been influenced by what he described as "misinformation" spread on social media regarding remarks allegedly made by him about students protesting in Delhi.
The minister stated that during the recently concluded Monsoon Session of the Madhya Pradesh Assembly, Leader of Opposition and Congress MLA Umang Singhar accused him of using objectionable language against protesting students. According to Vijayvargiya, the Assembly Speaker later examined the complete video recording of the proceedings and clarified in the House that he had not made any insulting or objectionable remarks. He claimed the allegations against him were found to be baseless.
Vijayvargiya said that before the facts emerged, the allegations had been widely circulated on social media, creating confusion among the public. He said the Indore-based Pandey couple also became influenced by the campaign and staged a protest outside his residence.
According to the minister, since the protest had been announced in advance on social media, the police had already made security arrangements to maintain law and order. During the protest, the police acted in accordance with legal procedure and produced the couple before the court after taking them into custody.
The minister further stated that he was occupied with the Assembly proceedings when the incident took place and came to know about it only after the session concluded. He added that he later learned the couple had two young children.
Expressing a humanitarian view, Vijayvargiya wrote that children should not suffer because of mistakes allegedly committed by their parents. He also clarified that he had neither lodged any complaint against the couple nor had any personal grievance against them.
In his letter, the minister requested the Police Commissioner to take appropriate action under the law and, if legally permissible, facilitate the couple's release on humanitarian grounds. He also expressed hope that the couple had learned from the incident and would not repeat such actions in the future based on misleading information circulated on social media.
