Dhaval Patel, editor of the Gujarati news portal Face of India has been detained and charged with ‘sedition’ for publishing an article suggesting a shift in command with the replacement of existing Chief Minister Vijay Rupani.
Patel has been charged under Section 124(a) that deals with sedition and the Disaster Management Act. The First Information Report (FIR) registered by the Ahmedabad Crime Branch states that the article, published on May 7, claimed that BJP high command was unhappy with Rupani’s response to the coronavirus outbreak and were considering replacing him with Union Minister Mansukh Mandaviya.
The rumours of Mandaviya being called in by the BJP high command to discuss the shift in power have been denied by the Union Minister.
Assistant Commissioner of Police, BV Gohil, stated that the article was published without any basis in proof and that such articles can cause unrest and instability in the course of fighting a pandemic.
‘As a precautionary measure in view of the coronavirus pandemic, Patel has been detained, not arrested, and sent to SVP Hospital for COVID-19 test,’ said Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) BV Gohil.
Following the article published by Patel on Face of India, multiple other local news portals reported similar stories. When asked if any other journalists have been charged for reporting the story, Gohil stated that so far the police have charged and detained ‘only once accused and are probing others.’
The state of Gujarat remains second on the state wise list of maximum number of coronavirus cases, with a total of 8,541 cases. So far, there have been 2780 recoveries and 513 deaths.
