IPS officer Mr Sandeep Mittal, who is no stranger to controversies, has now crossed swords with the IPS Association, the powerful All India bureaucrats’ group, after the latter unfollowed him from their popular Twitter handle.
Mr Mittal allegedly wears his political affiliations on his sleeves, and that was the apparent reason of his unfollowing from the Twitter handle of the IPS Association. Miffed at the move, Mr Mittal has shot off a tweet: “IPS association belonged to us. Can @IPS_ Association tell me who took the decision to unfollow @smittal_ips. Is it being run by a private company?
An IPS officer of Tamil Nadu cadre, Mr Mittal is at present attached with the Central Government in New Delhi.
Late last year, Mr Mittal was in news for a different reason, after he took on noted lyricist Javed Akhtar and his actor-filmmaker son Farhan Akhtar.
On December 16, 2019, Mr Javed Akhtar expressed his anguish at the Delhi Police entering Jamia Milia Islamia University in the national capital. Taking to Twitter, Mr Akhtar wrote: “According to the law of the land under any circumstances police cannot enter any university campus without the permission of the university authorities. By entering the Jamia campus without permission police has created a precedence that is a threat to every university .’’ Mr Mittal, reacting sharply to the tweet and addressing Mr Akhtar as “Dear Legal expert’’, he countered in his Tweet: “ Please elaborate the law of land, the section number and name of the Act etc so that we are also enlightened. Regards.’’
Mr Akhtar did not reply to this. But a few days later, Mr Mittal accused Farhan Akhtar of breaking the law for allegedly urging people to join him in protesting the Citizenship (Amendment) Act at August Kranti Maidan in Mumbai. Through a Twitter message, Mr Mittal reminded Farhan: “You also need to know that you’ve committed an Offence u/s 121 of Indian Penal Code & it is not unintentional. @MumbaiPolice & @NIA_India are you listening. Please think of the Nation that is giving you everything in your Life. Understand the Law.’’
Subsequent to his public spat with Javed Akhtar and Farhan Khan, Mr Mittal said that his Twitter account had been partially hacked. He claimed this had happened after his questioning of the father-son duo.
