Ghaziabad assault video: FIR against Alt News co-founder, Twitter, 7 others

GHAZIABAD: An FIR was filed late on Tuesday against six individuals, including journalists and Congress politicians, under various sections of the IPC for sharing videos on Twitter that police claimed gave a “communal twist” to the assault on 72-year-old Abdul Samad in Loni on June 5.
Three entities – Twitter Inc, Twitter Communication India Pvt Ltd and a news portal – were also named in the FIR that was filed at Loni border police station.
Ghaziabad SSP Amit Pathak confirmed the FIR. Akhilesh Mishra, SHO of Loni border police station, told TOI the people booked in the FIR included Mohammed Zubair, co-founder of fact-checking website Alt News, journalists and commentators Rana Ayyub and Saba Naqvi and Salman Nizami, Maskoor Usmani and Shama Mohamed of Congress.
They FIR contains sections under sections 153 (provocation with intent to cause riot), 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion), 295A (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings), 505 (publishing or circulating any statement, rumour or report with intent to incite), 120B (criminal conspiracy) and 34 (common intention) of the IPC.
Mishra said action was taken by Ghaziabad police because all of them had shared the videos on their Twitter handles without verifying it.
Zubair had earlier posted on his Twitter account, “I've deleted the videos that I had posted. The victim’s version of him being forced to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’ at this point in time do not seem to add up based on my conversations with police authorities and other journalists reporting on this issue.”