UP Police books Twitter, Mohammed Zubair, Rana Ayyub and others over Ghaziabad viral video posts
Uttar Pradesh police FIR claims that the posts were shared with specific intent without ascertaining facts of the incident and pointed towards a criminal conspiracy.
FollowA day after it emerged that the case involving the thrashing of a Muslim man in Ghaziabad's Loni locality was not communal, but that of personal enmity, the Uttar Pradesh government has initiated proceedings against micro-blogging Twitter and some platform users for misinformation.
Uttar Pradesh police FIR names Twitter, Mohammed Zubair, Rana Ayyub, Shama Mohamed, Salman Nizami, Saba Naqvi, Maskoor Usmani and The Wire for sharing the Ghaziabad attack video and allegedly giving the incident a communal twist.
The FIR claims that the posts were shared with specific intent without ascertaining facts of the incident and pointed towards a criminal conspiracy. It also alleged that the posts, which were widely shared, aimed at creating disharmony between Hindus and Muslims.
Twitter also found itself in the dock with the police claiming that the platform's Indian subsidiary, Twitter Communications India Private Limited, for not doing enough to stop the misinformation campaign despite the Ghaziabad police putting out the facts of the case in a statement on the micro-blogging platform.
The case in question pertains to a viral video showing the thrashing of an elderly Muslim man, Abdul Samad Saifi, by some youths. During the assault, the attackers chopped off Abdul Samad's beard. Many who shared the video claimed that 'Hindutva goons' were behind the attack and that they forced Abdul Samad to chant 'Jai Shri Ram'.
However, the Ghaziabad police clarified that the attack was not communal but over personal enmity arising out of the amulets handed out by the victim to his attackers not producing the desired results.
