By India Tomorrow News,
New Delhi, 22 March 2014: The Mumbai police instruction to US-based website TwoCircles.net to block or pull down its video and article carrying allegations against Mumbai Police Commissioner Rakesh Maria has not gone down well with media organizations and Muslim community.
TCN on 18 and 19 March published an article and a video interview of Delhi lawyer Mehmood Pracha wherein he had made serious allegations against Maria for allegedly implicating innocent Muslim youths in terror cases while deliberately ignoring the real culprits. Pracha had purportedly sought arrest of Maria for such act.
Several mainstream media houses have taken notice of the email sent to TCN and made it a prominent news item on their pages.
The Indian Express carried the news on 21 March with this headline: Mumbai cops ask US website to block articles against Maria
“The Mumbai Police’s Cyber Crime Cell has sent summons to the editorial department of US-based website TwoCircles.net, asking it to block and provide details on two online links of interviews pertaining to allegations against the city’s top cop, Rakesh Maria, by lawyer Mehmood Pracha,” says the paper.
Another prominent English daily DNA wrote United States website told to block post against Rakesh Maria on 21 March.
“The police have requested the media house to delete, block the links with immediate effect and provide them details such as user’s creation details with Internet Protocol address date and time, login details of the user and any optional email ID given by the user,” said the paper.
Senior journalists Siddharth Vardarajan and Saikat Datta have also highlighted the issue on their twitter handles.
Adv. Pracha had told TCN – which focuses on Indian Muslims — that he had got threat calls and messages from underworld don Ravi Pujari and from some 17 mobile numbers. Pracha is pursuing around 70 terror cases wherein Muslim youths have been made accused.
Muslim leaders here on Friday condemned the Mumbai police email to TCN saying it is part of the threat to Mehmood Pracha.
“The email sent to TCN is a part of the threat made to Mehmood Pracha,” said Dr. Zafarul Islam Khan, President, All India Muslim Majlise Mushawarat while addressing a press conference on the threats to Pracha.
“There is a law that nothing can be removed from Internet without court order. If they (Mumbai Police) want to remove the articles against Maria, they should first seek an order from a court,” said Dr. Khan adding that “It is a threat to silence our voice.”
He congratulated TCN and Beyondheadlines.in to highlight the threats to Mehmood Pracha.
In the press conference, Muslim leaders condemned the threats to Mehmood Pracha and demanded the government to ensure his full security.
Besides Dr. Khan, the conference was addressed by Mohammad Salim Engineer, Secretary, Jamaat-e-Islami Hind Mujtaba Farooq, president, Welfare Party of India and Dr. Tasleem Ahmed Rahmani, president, Muslim Political Council of India.
