Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi along with Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath were attacked on social media. Express photo by Vishal Srivastav
Alleging that a Facebook comment was leading to “communal discord”, members of the Hindu Yuva Vahini outfit filed a police complaint in Noida on Wednesday against a person for his remarks about Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on social media. Police said the complaint has been registered at Sector 20 police station under IPC Section 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion) and Section 66 of the IT Act.
The investigating officer added that Section 153A is likely to be replaced by Section 500 of the IPC (defamation), as the charge of inciting communal disharmony does not seem to have enough weight. The man, police said, is yet to be traced. The FIR was filed by Umesh Kumar Tiwari, the Gautam Budh Nagar district vice-chairman of Hindu Yuva Vahini, who referred to the remark criticising the CM and PM’s visit to Noida to inaugurate a Samsung factory.
In a statement issued by the outfit, they claimed the comment was made to “instigate people” and “disrupt brotherhood between Hindus and Muslims”. The FIR also specifies an address of the accused. Ganesh Chandra Kaushik, one of the outfit’s members, claimed that while he does not know the accused, some of the group’s members had tracked him down and found his address. However, SHO of Sector 20 police station Manish Saxena said the accused is being traced by the police through his Facebook profile, and that they have not yet zeroed in on his identity so far.