Delhi police receives complaint against Swara Bhaskar, Twitter India MD

Delhi police has received a complaint against actor Swara Bhaskar, Twitter India MD Manish Maheshwari and others in connection with social media posts about an alleged attack on an elderly Muslim man in Ghaziabad on June 5. Officials said the complaint over ‘inflammatory tweets’ was received at the Tilak Marg police station on Thursday.

Media reports said Delhi police is yet to file an FIR (first information report) based on the complaint by an advocate. “We have received a complaint against Swara Bhaskar, Manish Maheshwari, MD, Twitter, and others at Tilak Marg police station. The matter is under inquiry,” a senior police officer said.

Police complaint filed in Tilak Marg Police Station against

1) Asif Khan
2) Swara Bhaskar
3) Arfa Khanum Sherwani
4) Twitter Inc
5) Twitter India
6) Manish Maheshwari, MD Twitter

For spreading hatred and giving communal colour to their tweets.#TwitterIndia @manishm #Twitter pic.twitter.com/8AtUFbT6oI

— Bar & Bench (@barandbench) June 17, 2021

The complainant approached Delhi Police on Wednesday, a day after Twitter, several journalists and Congress leaders were reportedly named in an FIR in Ghaziabad for  ‘provoking communal sentiments’ with tweets that shared the elderly man’s allegations.

What was alleged

In a video uploaded on social media, the elderly Muslim man, Sufi Abdul Samad, had accused four people of beating him up, chopping his beard and asking him to chant “Jai Shri Ram” in the Loni area of Ghaziabad. However, UP police later said it was a non-communal crime; a group of six people — Hindus and Muslims — are suspencted to have attacked Samad for allegedly selling fake good luck charms.

Also read: Twitter India head was questioned in Congress ‘toolkit’ case: Report

Twitter is reportedly facing legal action for not taking steps to remove the allegedly false tweets. Several journalists and Congress leaders have been charged for sharing the tweets

UP police’s FIR charged Twitter Inc, Twitter Communications India, news portal The Wire, scribes Mohammed Zubair and Rana Ayyub, and senior journalist and author Saba Naqvi, besides Congress leaders Salman Nizami, Masqoor Usmani and Sama Mohammad, with sharing the video clip on social media.

“These people did not verify the truth of the matter and shared it online with a communal angle with an intention to disrupt public peace and create a divide between religious groups,” it had said.