This Article is From Sep 06, 2019

"Frivolous, Politically Motivated": Shehla Rashid Reacts On Sedition Case

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

'Frivolous, Politically Motivated': Shehla Rashid Reacts On Sedition Case

The case has been transferred to the Delhi Police special cell for investigation (File)

New Delhi:

Activist Shehla Rashid on Friday said the First Information Report filed against her under the sedition law was a politically motivated attempt to silence her.

"The FIR is a frivolous, politically motivated and pathetic attempt to silence me. I am a petitioner in the Constitutional challenge to the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution of India, and our petition in the Supreme Court makes a very strong case for the restoration of the same," she said in a statement on Twitter.

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.

Ms Rashid, in her tweets last month, 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.

"In my tweets, I have clearly mentioned that these are based on information received from people in the state. In a situation where reporters are not allowed to report, media, social media, telephonic and postal communication is gagged, it is important to put out narratives of the people, so that people in the rest of India know what is happening there. As a political activist, I was just doing my job," she added today.

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.

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

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