Uttar Pradesh police on Sunday(9 June 2019) made its fourth arrest for alleged defamation of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on social media. The man was arrested after a complaint was raised against the accused on Twitter. Earlier, a freelance journalist, an editor of a TV channel and its owner were arrested in relation to a Kanpur based woman who claimed to be in love with the Chief Minister. The woman claims that she had been video conferencing with the Chief Minister for a long time and expressed her desire to spent the rest of her life with him.
The recent arrest is of 30-yr-old Raju Singh for allegedly posting a morphed picture of the Kanpur based woman with CM Adityanath
वरिष्ठ पुलिस अधीक्षक गोरखपुर के निर्देशन में #gorakhpurpolice द्वारा ट्वीटर के माध्यम से मिली शिकायत माननीय मुख्य मंत्री महोदय की छवि धूमिल करने हेतु आपत्तिजनक पोस्ट करने के आरोप में 1 अभियुक्त गिरफ्तार घटना मे प्रयुक्त मोबाईल बरामद। @Uppolice pic.twitter.com/Koa7a2L25J
— GORAKHPUR POLICE (@gorakhpurpolice) June 9, 2019
Freelance Journalist Arrested
Earlier, Delhi-based journalist Prashant Jagdish Kanojiya was arrested on Saturday for tweeting the video of the woman who claimed to be in love with Yogi Adityanath. Prashant in his tweet wrote, “Ishq chupta nahi chupaane se yogi ji”.
Kanojiya was arrested under the charges of Sections 500 (defamation) and 505 of the Indian Penal Code for circulating false statements and Section 67 of the Information Technology Act for disseminating obscene content in electronic form. The police in a statement on Saturday said that Kanojia has accepted his crimes after “strict questioning”.
Prashant was picked up by four people in civilian clothes, who identified themselves as Uttar Pradesh police, from his house in Vinod Nagar, Delhi. However, the cops could not provide an arrest warrant when asked for the same.
Only a day later, an FIR in the case was filed by sub-inspector Vikas Kumar at Hazratganj police station in Lucknow. Kanojia’s wife says that she had no information regarding any FIR being filed in the case and came to know about the charges only after the arrest was made, reported Newslaundry. Prashant Kanojia’s wife has reached the Supreme Court for his release and the hearing is tomorrow.
Two Television Journalists Arrested
On Saturday evening, two journalists from Nation Live news channel based in Noida were arrested for organising a panel discussion over the allegations made by the woman. Ishika Singh, channel head and editor Anuj Shukla have been remanded to 14-days judicial custody, in the case.
“The channel aired the video without verification. This has infuriated party workers. A case in this regard has been registered by sub-inspector Dhamendra Singh under sections 505 (1), 505 (2), 501 and 153 of IPC,” UP police said in a press release.
A day later, Noida city magistrate Shailendra Mishra issued an order on Sunday to seal the premises of the news channel for two months.
“The incident could have led to serious law and order problems in the future. So it is very important to take concrete action against the channel and in order to stop immediate broadcast, the premises in sector 65 will be sealed for two months starting June 9,” said magistrate’s order.
Editor Guild of India Condemns the Arrest
Editor Guild of India issued a statement condemning the arrests on Saturday. “Whatever the accuracy of the woman’s claims, to register a case of criminal defamation against the journalists for sharing it on the social media and airing it on a television channel is a brazen misuse of law,” said Editor Guild of India in the statement.
The Editors Guild of India has issued a statement pic.twitter.com/fdczdNDwyz
— Editors Guild of India (@IndEditorsGuild) June 9, 2019
“This is a condemnable misuse of law and state power,” said Editor Guild while pointing out that the Uttar Pradesh police took suo motu cognisance and filed an FIR.
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