The Ministry of Railways has issued a clarification regarding the arrest and imprisonment of a train hawker, Avdhesh Dubey after videos of the man mocking politicians went viral.
The hawker identified as Avdhesh Dubey became popular on the internet after a couple of videos of him making jokes on several politicians went viral on social media.
Netizens were infuriated when the news of him being arrested by the Railway Protection Force broke out. He was sentenced to 10 days of judicial custody along with a fine of Rs 3,500.
While the railway authorities claimed that he was arrested on charges of illegal hawking among other sections, netizens refused to accept it and had demanded immediate release of the man.
With the controversy still remaining heated up, the Ministry of Railways has issued a clarification, stating the circumstances in which he was arrested and punished.
The authorities stated that Dubey was a repeat offender, and this is the 12th time that he has been found guilty. It also stated that apart from Dubey, eight other persons were arrested for illegal hawking in the month of May.
Read the full statement below:
"This has reference to the news item carried in your online publication regarding 'Gujarat: Train hawker arrested after video of him mimicking politicians goes viral'.
In this regard, the following is stated that RPF Surat arrested Shri Avdhesh Dubey during a drive against unauthorised persons and registered a case vide CR no1228/19 under section 144(A), 145(B), 147 of the Railways Act and was produced before the court. The Railway Magistrate verified the past record of the defaulter and came to know his repeated offences under section 144 RA (12th time including this case). The defaulter himself confessed to the magistrate that he has been doing unauthorized hawking in trains since 2005.
As the Railway Magistrate has been dealing with such repeated offenders strongly, he imposed him the punishment of 10 days imprisonment and fine Rs.3500/- pls. It is pertinent to mention here that Rly magistrate has imposed imprisonment up to 30 days also in other such cases. It is routine action by RPF, Surat against unauthorized vendors and 8 other persons were also arrested during this chive in the Month of May by RPF, Surat. It may also be mentioned Shd Avdhesh Dubey who has already been booked for this offence 11 times (7 times by Valsad Post and 4 times by Surat Post)".
However, many on social media still refused to accept the clarification as they believe Dubey was arrested only because his videos had gone viral, and there are many other such illegal hawkers operating on trains.
