A complaint was filed against Swara Bhasker and others over tweets on the Ghaziabad assault.
Highlights
- Twitter accused of not removing "misleading" content linked to incident
- UP Police says there was nothing communal about the act
- Government sources said Twitter "has lost the legal shield"
A complaint has been lodged in Delhi against actor Swara Bhasker, the Managing Director of Twitter India and two others over "inflammatory tweets" on the assault on a Muslim man in Uttar Pradesh's Ghaziabad earlier this month.
The police are, however, yet to file an FIR (First Information Report) based on the complaint by an advocate.
A lawyer approached Delhi Police with his complaint on Wednesday, a day after Twitter, several journalists and Congress leaders were named in an FIR in Ghaziabad over "provoking communal sentiments" with posts sharing the elderly man's allegations.
The complainant claims that Swara Bhasker, journalist Arfa Khanum and a person named Asif Khan, through their Twitter handles, "got inspired from the incident and started a propaganda to spread hate amongst the citizens". Manish Maheshwari, the head of Twitter in India, did not take any action to remove these false tweets knowing the fact that the incident did not have any kind of communal angle", the complaint says.
In the case filed by Uttar Pradesh Police, Twitter has been accused of not removing "misleading" content linked to the incident. The charges the social media giant faces include "intent to a riot, promoting enmity and criminal conspiracy".
The man, Sufi Abdul Samad, had alleged that his beard was cut off and he was forced to chant "Vande Mataram" and "Jai Shri Ram" by a group that assaulted him. UP Police say there was nothing communal about the incident; the man was attacked by six people -- Hindus and Muslims - who were angry with him for allegedly selling fake good luck charms.
Government sources said Twitter "has lost the legal shield" as it failed to comply with the new IT rules.