Twitter, Journalists Named in FIR by UP Police for Circulating Video
The Uttar Pradesh Police have booked microblogging platform Twitter, a news portal, and six persons in connection with the circulation of a video in which an elderly man narrates his ordeal after he was allegedly attacked by some people in Ghaziabad.
The FIR, which was lodged at the Loni Border police station in Ghaziabad around 11:30pm on Tuesday on the basis of a complaint lodged by a local policeman, alleges that the video was shared with an intention to provoke communal unrest.
In the video clip, which surfaced on social media on June 14, the elderly man, Abdul Shamad Saifi, alleges he was thrashed by some young men and asked to chant ”Jai Shri Ram”.
However, the Ghaziabad police, who have arrested six persons, including Muslims, have ruled out a communal angle. They said the accused were unhappy about the ”tabeez” (amulet) he had sold to them.
The arrested youth have been identified as Kalloo and Adil. Apart from them, Polly, Arif, Mushahid and Parvesh Gurjar were also involved in the incident, Senior Superintendent of Police Amit Pathak said on Tuesday.
Later on Tuesday, the police lodged an FIR against Twitter, Twitter Communications India, news website The Wire, journalists Mohammad Zubair and Rana Ayyub, Congress politicians Salman Nizami, Masqoor Usmani, Dr. Sama Mohammad, and writer Saba Naqvi for sharing the clip.
