Man seeks permission to ‘abuse’ newspaper for 2 hours

Lucknow: You may have heard of some strange requests. But it’s unlikely that something more bizarre than this has been sought for. Prateek Sinha, a resident of Uttar Pradesh’s Pratapgarh has written to district authorities seeking permission to ‘abuse’ a local newspaper.

Prateek took this step after a report in that newspaper alleged that he was involved in land grabbing and referred to him as ‘land mafia’. Prateek sent the newspaper office a defamation notice for tarnishing his reputation.

He also wrote a letter addressed to the Sub-Divisional Magistrate and asked for permission to stand outside the newspaper headquarters for two hours and hurl abuses against the bureau chief and the concerned reporter.

Prateek claimed in the letter that his land was subjected to bulldozer action on January 9 “without any reason.”

He also stated that he was labelled as ‘mafia’ without sufficient evidence. “I seek permission for January 15 at 12 pm to express my grievances by hurling abuses at the bureau chief and the reporter for two hours, in opposition to the article,” his letter stated.

He assured that he won’t resort to any violence or threat. “And, I want to assure you (the SDM) that despite great urge, the applicant will not thrash them (newspaper agency) with shoes or threaten them,” he clarified. The SDM’s office hasn’t responded to the crazy request.