UP: Trader strips off clothes at GST office to protest 'harassment', officials refute charge

Meerut (UP): A Meerut-based iron trader stripped down to his underwear at the Mohan Nagar GST office in Ghaziabad and sat on a protest alleging harassment at the hands of officials of the department.

A purported video of the Akshay Jain's protest was widely circulated on social media, with Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav sharing it on X to attack the Uttar Pradesh government.

"This is the truth of 'Ease of Doing Business' in BJP rule: BJP has even made traders take off their clothes. Traders are saying today that they don't want the BJP," Yadav posted on X in Hindi on Saturday.

While Jain said he resorted to the extreme measure out of frustration with the department's "persistent harassment", officials rejected the allegation and charged that Jain's company, Arihant Iron and Steel Industry, had discrepancies in a delivery challan, including a missing weighing slip.

They alleged that a vehicle of the company was brought to the flying squad office for inspection but Jain refused to cooperate and became agitated.

The local GST officials said that during the investigation, it was discovered that the vehicle was carrying 170 kg of goods above the weight declared by the trader.

They said a penalty of 118 per cent was imposed, and Jain was required to pay Rs 10,532. The vehicle was eventually released after the payment was made, the officials added.

Jain, however, denied the allegations of excess weight and claimed that the GST department officials were harassing him to extort money.

He told PTI that he had done nothing wrong and had even pleaded with the GST officials to understand his situation. "However, their refusal to listen prompted me to take a stand, drawing inspiration from the non-violent principles of Lord Mahavir ji," Jain added.