Exclusive | We were not kept in jail with rapists, clarifies student leader Pooja

Shubhanshu Sharma
Published on: 9 July 2017 11:26 AM GMT
Exclusive | We were not kept in jail with rapists, clarifies student leader Pooja
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We were not kept in jail with rapists, clarifies student leader Pooja

Sudhanshu Saxena

Lucknow: Pooja Shukla, a Lucknow University student who suddenly became a known name after she was jailed for showing black flags to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, denied being kept with rapists in jail on Sunday.

Contrary to one of her companions' claim that they were kept in the same cells with the rapists, Pooja stated that they were dealt like political prisoners inside the jail.

Apurva Verma, who was also among those nine student leaders who showed black flags to the UP CM when he was entering the Lucknow University campus to preside the Hindavi Swarajya Day celebrations, had earlier in an interview with a leading daily claimed that the jail administration treated them very badly and kept them along with rapists.

Pooja and Apurva, along with their seven companions, were taken into judicial custody for protesting against the misuse of students' welfare funds by university administration and some other burning issues. Where Pooja spent 25 days in prison, Apurva was released after 23 days.

There has been a lot of hue and cry over the UP government's decision to send the student leaders behind bars for staging protest. The brawl took a new turn when Apurva recently claimed that her companions and she were kept in the same cell where the rapists were serving their jail term.

Reacting over the same, Pooja in an exclusive interview with newstrack.com claimed that they were given the same treatment what the political prisoners usually get.

Also Read: UP CM Yogi Adityanth shown black flags at Lucknow University

"We used to get up at 5 in the morning and start our daily routine. The jail authorities used to count us at least thrice a day. We were allowed to read the books we brought to the jail. We also got newspapers from other prisoners. We were kept in jail like political prisoners and were made to clean our cells just like other prisoners," she stated.

She also praised other female prisoners for helping Apurva and her in bearing the jail atmosphere. "We also came across some prisoners who were put behind bars in fake cases. So, we have decided to provide free of cost legal advices to the poor ladies," she added.

She also wrote a letter to her friends and followers in which she mentioned Bhagat Singh as her idol and claimed that the government will never succeed in letting down her morale by extending the jail term.

Earlier on June 7, UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath was shown black flags by different political student organisations including Samajwadi Chatra Sabha.

This led to stopping of CM’s convoy for around five minutes at the gate of the university.

The activist of Samajwadi Party Chatra Sabha disrupted the movement by showing black flags and also raised slogans against the UP CM.

Police had charged batons to control the situation and arrested Ankit Singh, Babu, Anil Yadav, Madhuri Singh, Vinit Khushwaha and several other students.

Following the major loophole in CM’s security, a sub-inspector and six constables had been suspended.

Shubhanshu Sharma

Shubhanshu Sharma

Writer has 6 years of experience in digital media. Presently working as Senior Sub Editor at newstrack.com. An avid reader and always willing to learn new things and techniques.

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