Shehla Rashid had said her tweets were based on conversations with people (File)
Highlights
- Shehla Rashid is accused of "deliberately spreading fake news"
- The case was filed on the complaint of a Supreme Court lawyer
- She had said her tweets were based on "conversations with people"
A case under the sedition law was filed against activist Shehla Rashid earlier this week for her tweets in which she had claimed that the armed forces were "entering houses" in Jammu and Kashmir and "picking up boys". The case was filed on the complaint of a Supreme Court lawyer, the First Information Report accessed by NDTV said.
Restrictions were imposed on August 4 in Jammu and Kashmir before the centre announced the scrapping of special status to the state.
The centre had detained several Kashmir politicians, including former chief ministers Mehbooba Mufti and Omar Abdullah, and suspended the telecom services before announcing its decision.
The top official of the state administration, Rohit Kansal, said earlier this week that over 90 per cent of the Kashmir valley was free of daytime restrictions. 76 of 95 telephone exchanges were operational, he informed.
In his complaint, the lawyer had said Ms Rashid's allegations were baseless as she had not produced any "voice recording" of the alleged torture or date and time of the incidents. He also accused Ms Rashid of "deliberately spreading fake news with the intention to incite violence in the country" and maligning the image of the Indian Army, news agency PTI reported.
In her tweets last month, Ms Rashid had also claimed that four men were called into the Army camp and were interrogated and tortured. After her remarks triggered a controversy, she had issued a clarification that her tweets were based on conversations with people of the state.
"All of my tweets are based on conversations with people. My thread highlights the positive work of the administration too. Let the Army conduct a fair and impartial probe and I'm willing to share the details of the incidents mentioned with them," she had said.
Ms Rashid has also been charged with spreading "fake news" with the intention to "malign the image of Indian Army", the police say.
The case has been transferred to the Delhi Police special cell for investigation.
With inputs from PTI