A case was registered on Thursday against unidentified persons for allegedly spreading false and malicious propaganda against Congress’ Anandpur Sahib candidate Manish Tewari and his family on social media.

The case was registered under Section 295-A (acts intended to outrage religious feelings or any class) and 500 (punishment for defamation) of the Indian Penal Code at the at the Rupnagar city police station on the complaint of Tewari’s election agent Pawan Diwan. Tewari has also lodged a complaint with the Election Commission of India in this connection.

Tewari said it was claimed in a video clip being circulated on social media that his father late Prof VN Tewari was involved in anti-Sikh riots in Delhi and that petrol was supplied from his filling station to burn Sikhs. He said his father was killed six months before the riots and he never owned any petrol pump.

“My mother was a Jat Sikh. My father was an academic at Panjab University, Chandigarh, and my mother retired as the dean of the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER). We have complained to the returning officer, Rupnagar senior superintendent of police (SSP) and the chief election commissioner (CEC). They need to act against the miscreants,” he tweeted earlier in the day.

“Those who failed in trying to raise any issue against me have now stopped too low to malign me and my family with outrageous lies,” Tewari said on Thursday.

The Congress leader is locked in a multi-cornered contest against sitting MP and Akali Dal leader Prem Singh Chandumajra, Punjab Democratic Alliance (PDA) nominee Vikram Singh Sodhi and Bir Devinder Singh of the SAD (Taksali).

(With agency inputs)

First Published: May 02, 2019 21:19 IST