Bhasker, Sherwani, and others “spread hate against the citizens” by trying to give the incident a “communal colour”, the complainant said.
On Thursday, Delhi Police said they have received a complaint against actress Swara Bhasker, Twitter MD Manish Maheshwari, journalist Arfa Khanum Sherwani and others over their tweets about an elderly man who was allegedly assaulted in Ghaziabad on June 5. Bhasker, Sherwani, and others “spread hate against the citizens” by trying to give the incident a “communal colour”, the complainant said.
Amit Acharya, an advocate, submitted the complaint at the Tilak Marg police station in Delhi on Wednesday. The complainant has demanded that Delhi police register an FIR against Twitter Inc, Bhasker, Maheshwari, Sherwani and a man named Arif Khan and book them under IPC sections 153 (provocation for rioting), 153A (promoting enmity between different groups), 295A (acts intended to outrage religious feelings), 505 (mischief) and 120B (criminal conspiracy).
Ghaziabad police have so far arrested three people for allegedly assaulting the elderly man, Abdul Samad Saifi. The victim had narrated that the men offered him an auto ride, took him to an isolated spot, and beat him up, forcing him to chant Jai Shri Ram. However, police said the accused beat him up because he had sold them a “tabeez (amulet)” that they believed did not work. Parvesh Gujjar, Adil, and Kallu are the names of the arrested accused.
The complainant further mentioned that the miscreants involved in the incident are from “Hindu and Muslim religious groups” but the accused persons used this incident to “communalise and spread hate amongst the religions”.
“These users have lakhs of followers and an official account. Knowing the fact that their tweets have an impact on society, they gave communal colours to the incident without fact-checking the truthfulness of the incident. The concerned tweets were floated across the social media with the motive of hampering peace and harmony amongst the religious groups,” the complaint read.
Deepak Yadav, DCP (New Delhi) said, “A complaint has been filed against Swara Bhasker, Manish Maheshwari (MD Twitter India) and others at PS Tilak Marg. We have received it and the matter is under inquiry.”
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