UP Police FIR Against Journalists, Congress Leaders and Twitter for Posts Over Ghaziabad Mob Attack on Elderly Muslim

New Delhi, 16 June 2021 [Fik/News Sources]: The case of mob attack on a Muslim man Abdul Samad in Ghaziabad which sparked massive outrage has taken a new twist as Uttar Pradesh Police have filed an FIR against  politicians, journalists, media outlet The Wire and social media company Twitter on charges of posting provocative tweets which allegedly promoted communal division.

An officer at Loni Border police station confirmed the FIR. He told Clarion India that these people had “exaggerated the incident”.

A copy of the FIR accessed by Clarion India names Congress leaders Dr Shama Mohammed, who is party spokesperson; youth leaders Salman Nizami and Maskoor Usmani; journalist Mohammed Zubair who is associated with Alt News; independent journalists Rana Ayyub and Saba Naqvi; and news portal The Wire.

The police have invoked different sections of the Indian Penal Code including 153 (provocation for rioting), 153A (promoting enmity between different groups), 295A (acts intended to outrage religious feelings), 505 (mischief), 120B (criminal conspiracy) and 34 (common intention) against them.

Notably, Twitter has  also been dragged in the FIR and reportedly this is the first case against the social media giant since the new IT rules came into force.

Twitter and the Indian government are engaged in a bitter face-off for the last several months allegedly for not complying with the diktats of the government to pull down a critical content. The company has also tried to resist the government’s new IT rules which the experts have declared worrisome and say they will change the way Indians see the internet.

The FIR says the tweets by the accused was ”false” which  give hint at a “criminal conspiracy” as they tried to create “animosity between Hindus and Muslims”. The accused include journalists and political persons who did not make an attempt to establish the truth in the case and spread false news,” the FIR alleges.

Usmani, the Congress youth face in Bihar, had said in a tweet that Samad was attacked and forced to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’. He said the FIR is message by government that it will not tolerate dissent, adding he will not budge to speak.

The FIR “against me and five others is  not mere personal attacks but a larger message that the government wants to propel that there can be no dissent from civil society, opposition parties, and independent media houses.” Usamani said in a statement. “No FIRs can curtail my right to speak against the state-orchestrated tyranny being faced by any individual on the basis of caste, creed, community, and culture.”

Ayyub while giving her reaction on the FIR said she will wait for the truth to come out. “My endeavour remains as always to share news that highlights the truth and thereby promotes peace and harmony in our society,” she said in a tweet. 

Few days back, a video had surfaced on social media showing a group of goons assaulting and abusing an elderly Muslim. The incident took place in Delhi’s outskirts in Loni in Uttar Pradesh’s Ghaziabad district on June 5.

Abdul Samad had alleged that he was forced to shout Jai Shree Ram. His beard was also cut by the attackers.

But police later said that its investigation found that the attack on Samad was a random incident and he was beaten up by the men as he had given them a Taweez (amulet) that they believed did not work. Police named and arrested the accused which included three Muslims Arif, Adil and Mushahid.

However, Arif’s family, according to Indian Express, say that he had only tried to resolve the matter after he got a call from Pravesh, the main accused in the case.