Sanjiv Kumar Bakshi

Hoshiarpur, December 24

BJP’s post in support of agri laws to counter the social media support to farmers’ agitation, has cost dear to the party, as a farmer, Harpreet Singh (in pic), whose photo was used by the BJP, has slapped a legal notice for illegally using his photograph in the post without his consent.

In the notice, his advocate Hakam Singh has mentioned that Harpreet, alias ‘Harp Farmer’, of Hoshiarpur’s Nadalon village, is a photographer, actor and director, whose picture the BJP used in its pro-farm laws post over social media. Now, he has sought an apology for ‘committing theft of photograph, misusing it without his consent,’ within a week, else he would be filing criminal and defamation case.

The notice was sent to the president/in-charge of the BJP national headquarters, central office of the BJP in Delhi, president/ in-charge of the BJP Punjab state and president/ in-charge of the BJP office in Chandigarh.

It has been alleged that Harpreet’s photograph was illegally procured by the BJP and it has been used in favour of farm laws, whereas on the contrary, he was against the said laws right from the beginning and was actively participating in the protests in Delhi since November 26.

It has been alleged that the photograph was not provided by Harpreet and its use in support of farm laws has hurt his feeling as he does not support these laws. Also, this has made him a subject of ‘mockery’, while farmers and other people were doubting his integrity.

Harpreet, through the notice, has sought from the BJP to delete his photo in the said post within a week and tender an apology on social media and clarify that the photo has not been uploaded with his consent and permission and it was uploaded by them (BJP) and it was a mistake committed by them. A clarification has also been sought through the notice, ‘from where they (BJP) procured the photo illegally and as to why it was misused’.