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Updated June 16th, 2021 at 10:53 IST

Twitter, Congress leaders among 9 named in FIR by UP Police over Ghaziabad viral video

The Ghaziabad Police registered an FIR against Twitter, Twitter India and 7 others over the video of an elderly man from Uttar Pradesh which has gone viral.

Reported by: Akhil Oka
Twitter, Police
Image: AP/PTI/Pixabay | Image:self
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In a big development on Tuesday night, the Ghaziabad Police registered an FIR against Twitter, Twitter India and 7 others over the video of an elderly man from Uttar Pradesh which has gone viral. It showed an elderly man Abdul Samad Saifi being assaulted, his beard being forcibly cut by unknown persons and being allegedly asked to chant slogans of Jai Shri Ram and Vande Mataram. It has accused AltNews co-founder Muhammad Zubair, Congress leaders Maskoor Usmani, Salman Nizami and Shama Mohamed, journalists Saba Naqvi and Rana Ayyub and news publication The Wire of trying to give a communal spin to the incident.

The police stated in the FIR, "The statements which were made on Twitter were not the opinion of a person but done with a clear intention. These tweets point towards a criminal conspiracy. The aforesaid accused and other unknown persons tried to spread hatred and hostility between Hindus and Muslims. It is clear that these tweets were posted to further a common goal of creating a religious divide and disturbing religious harmony. Such tweets were propagated on a large scale."

Calling them out for spreading "fake news", the police stressed that Twitter and Twitter India did not take any steps to remove the contentious tweets. As per the FIR, the aforesaid accused have been booked under Sections 34 (common intention), 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 153 (provocation with intent to cause riot), 153-A (promoting enmity on grounds of religion), 295-A (deliberate act to outrage religious feelings) and 505 (statements conducing to public mischief) of the Indian Penal Code. This case was registered at the Loni Border Police Station in Ghaziabad.

Here is a copy of the FIR:

Police rules out a communal angle

Amid a flurry of reactions from political parties including AIMIM, the police issued a clarification on Tuesday. According to the SP(Rural), it was established that the victim not only knew his attackers but also made amulets for them. He added that the accused reacted in such a manner after the amulets did not give positive results as promised by Abdul Samad Saifi. Additionally, the officer promised that the strictest possible action will be taken in this case. 

The SP (Rural) remarked, "After an inquiry, it was found that this elderly person came to the Loni border area on June 5. From there, he went to the village where he wanted to visit Parvesh's house. Parvesh had called him. He knew these boys since a long time. He makes amulets and he made amulets for Parvesh and the other boys too. They were dissatisfied regarding this and beat him up after calling him there. We have traced almost all boys. While Parvesh is already in jail, Kullu and Aadil have also been arrested. The other boys have been identified too and they will be arrested soon."

Meanwhile, Twitter has refused to comment on the UP government's FIR in the case. 

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Published June 16th, 2021 at 07:47 IST

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