Amnesty cautions employees in wake of protests

Amnesty today advised its staff in India to work either from home or a different location in the wake of protests against the NGO for organising an event where anti-India slogans were allegedly raised. "We were told by police to keep our staff away from office for a while as a precaution. So, we told our employees to either work from home or some other location. "Apparently, there were protests outside our Bengaluru office...So police cautioned us in the morning," Amnesty International India's spokesperson said. "By tomorrow, our employees would assume normal working mode. We are not shutting down our offices," the spokeswoman said when asked about reports of its offices closing temporarily. Bengaluru Police have slapped sedition charges against Amnesty International India, which has said none of its employees had shouted any anti-India slogan during a discussion on Kashmir held in the city on Saturday. The NGO rejected as "without substance" the allegations raised by the ABVP, the student outfit of the RSS. "The allegations mentioned in the complaint are without substance. The event was an open door event and people were coming and going. No staff members were involved," the spokesperson said. Meanwhile, the video footage of the event was being examined by the police to identify those who allegedly raised anti-India slogans. Congress leader Digvijay Singh had yesterday quoted Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah as saying that no arrests would be made pending the probe into the event even as ABVP intensified protests across the state demanding immediate arrest of those who allegedly raised anti-India and anti-Army slogans.