On Saturday, Mumbai BJP president Mangal Prabhat Lodha felicitated Uber driver Rohit Singh Gour with ‘Alert Citizen Award’. This comes two days after the Uber driver took poet-activist Bappadittya Sarkar to police station for talking about anti-CAA protest.
Mumbai BJP Pres MP Lodha felicitates Uber driver who took his passenger to Santa Cruz police station instead of the destination, after he heard him make a phone conversation over anti-CAA protest on 5th Feb. Police had recorded statements of both but found nothing suspicious. pic.twitter.com/9EHx2UyObH
— ANI (@ANI) February 8, 2020
The 23-year-old poet, Bappadittya Sarkar was taken to Santa Cruz police station on February 5 by his Uber driver Rohit Singh Gour after the latter overheard his phone conservation about anti-CAA protest.
Sarkar, a resident of Jaipur, who had arrived in Mumbai on February 3 for a poetry reading session at the Kala Ghoda Festival, had taken part in the ongoing anti-CAA-NRC protest at Nagpada in Mumbai. He took the Uber cab from Juhu to Kurla around 10.30 pm on Wednesday.
During the journey, Sarkar was discussing with his friend on mobile phone people’s discomfort with ‘Laal Salaam’ slogan at Shaheen Bagh protest in Delhi. The driver, who was listening, stopped the cab and told Sarkar he wanted to withdraw money from ATM. But he returned with two policemen, who allegedly asked Sarkar why he was carrying a ‘dafli’ (a percussion instrument), and also asked him his address.
The driver allegedly asked the police to take Sarkar in custody for “he was saying he was a Communist and was talking about burning the country”. The driver allegedly asked the police to take him in custody for “he was saying he was a communist and was talking about burning the country”. The driver also claimed he had recorded the phone talk. Sarkar was then taken to the police station, but was later released.