Why did the UP Police register a case of inciting religious violence on Twitter?

The Uttar Pradesh Police has registered a case against microblogging platform Twitter, a news portal and six people for circulating a video. In the video, an elderly Muslim man narrates his ordeal after he was allegedly attacked by some people in Ghaziabad. An FIR has been registered in this case on the basis of a complaint lodged by a local policeman on Tuesday night at around 11.30 pm at Loni Border Police Station in Ghaziabad. It alleged that the video was shared with the intention of inciting communal unrest.

In a video clip that surfaced on social media on June 14, Abdul Shamad Saifi, an elderly Muslim man, alleged that some youths thrashed him and asked him to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’. However, the Ghaziabad police, which arrested six people, including Muslims, denied the communal angle of the case. He said the accused were unhappy with the ‘talismans’ that he sold them. The arrested youths have been identified as Kallu and Adil. Senior Superintendent of Police Amit Pathak said on Tuesday that besides him, Poli, Arif, Mushahid and Parvesh Gurjar were also involved in the incident.

Later on Tuesday, police registered an FIR against Twitter, Twitter Communications India, news website The Wire, journalists Mohammad Zubair and Rana Ayyub, Congress politicians Salman Nizami, Muskoor Usmani, Dr Sama Mohammed and writer Saba Naqvi for sharing the clip. of. . “These people did not confirm the veracity of the matter and shared it online from a communal angle with the intention of disturbing public peace and creating division among religious groups,” the FIR said. Furthermore, Twitter and Twitter Communications India also did not take any measures to remove their tweets.

FIR under IPC sections 153 (incitement with intent to cause riot), 153A (promoting enmity between groups on grounds of religion, class etc.), 295A (deliberate and malicious act with intent to outrage religious feelings) is registered.