Syed Khalique Ahmed
NEW DELHI—In an unprecedented development, Tripura police have booked as many as 101 social media account holders on terror charges, besides offences under various sections of the Indian Penal Code.
Earlier, the police registered 12 cases and arrested five persons connected with anti-Muslim violence in the third week of October.
Among those booked under terror charges are also two advocates, Ansar Indori and Mukesh, both based in Delhi. The two lawyers and another person have been issued notices to present themselves before the West Tripura Police on November 10.
The cases against social media account holders have been booked to spread “rumours” and “fake” news about the anti-Muslim violence in Tripura to create communal discord.
The terror charges levelled are under Section 13 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). The Section pertains to committing or inciting others the commission of unlawful activity.
The charges levelled under the Indian Penal Code include Sections 153-A and B (Promoting enmity between different groups on the grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc.), 469 (committing forgery to harm the reputation of any party), 503 (criminal intimidation), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke the breach of peace) and 120B (punishment for criminal conspiracy).
Of 101 social media account holders, 68 are the Twitter account holder, 31 are Facebook and two are Youtube account holders.
An official at the Tripura West Police Station, where the “fake” social media posts were registered on November 3, told India Tomorrow that these posts were uploaded either by individual account holders or social media groups.
The official, however, refused to share the identity of the accused persons as he said he was not authorized to speak to the media.
Most of those booked are Muslims
However, he said that most of the groups or individual account holders against whom the cases for posting the “fake” news about the developments in Tripura have been booked, are Muslims.
Deputy Superintendent of Police (Crime Branch) Nirdesh Dev, when contacted, said that the police had so far tracked 150 individual account holders and groups who had posted “fake” news about the violence-related developments in the state.
Most of the “fake” news posts originated from outside Tripura, some from Bangladesh & the US
Most of these posts are from outside Tripura in India, a few posts have their origins in Bangladesh, the United States of America, and European countries. Only 15-20 posts, according to Dev, have originated from Tripura.
“We will investigate these cases and then decide the action to be taken based on the offences the posts invite,” he said. He said that certain posts carried pictures of old violence that took place outside the state but linked it with the violence in Tripura, which was a severe offence.
The advocates, who have been issued notices, were part of a fact-finding team that visited Tripura from October 30 to November 1. They held a press conference at the Press Club of India. They alleged that as many as 12 mosques, nine shops, and three houses belonging to Muslims were targeted during the violence.
Besides Indori and Mukesh, Supreme Court advocate Ehtesham Hashmi and Advocate Amit Srivastav from Lawyers for Democracy were part of the fact-finding team.
While Indori is connected with the National Confederation of Human Rights Organizations (NCHRO), Mukesh is a member of the Peoples’ Union for Civil Liberties. Mukesh is also a member of the Delhi unit of the Communist Party of India Marxist Leninist – Liberation (CPIML) and the All India Lawyers Association for Justice (AILAJ).
Responding to media queries, advocate Mukesh said that he merely shared on social media what he saw during his visit to Tripura between October 30 and November 1. However, he said that he also did a Facebook Live of the Press Conference in Delhi. “I believe that the police are concerned with Facebook Live,” he said.
Advocate Ehtesham Hashmi strongly condemned the issuance of notices to the advocates. Advocate Indori condemned the “targeting of advocates”. He demanded the withdrawal of the notices.
Through the official Twitter handle of the Tripura Police, Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG), Southern Range, RGK Rao said that individuals and organizations involved in posting “fake news” had been issued notices to remove these fake posts.
“Police will take strict action against people posting fake posts,” he warned.
Rao said that of the 12 cases, four were registered by the police taking suo motu cognizance of the offences. He claimed that the “police are conducting impartial investigation into all these cases.”
Stating that “Ill-intentioned wrong messages are being spread with photos and videos of happenings outside Tripura but showing that these incidents have taken place in Tripura,” Rao said that “people with selfish interests, are attempting to spread communal hatred in the state by misusing social media.”
To counter these “fake” posts, Rao said that the police had issued notices to such account holders to remove “farji” (fake) news posts and also warned them that strict legal action will be taken against them.
It may be recalled here that the Tripura High Court on October 28, taking suo motu cognizance of the incidents, had asked the social media platforms not to allow themselves to be used “to spread untruths and spread communal passion.” However, Superintendent of Police (Public Relations) Jyotish Debbarma told India Tomorrow that the police had booked cases suo motu and the High Court had not issued such direction to the police.
Rao also said that the government had announced compensation for damage and destruction to properties during the violence. He, however, claimed that no one was injured or hurt physically during the anti-Muslim violence that continued for several days.
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