Twitter India’s Managing Director has been sent a legal notice by Uttar Pradesh police on Thursday over a viral video of an elderly man in Loni being assaulted with the intent of provoking communal unrest. Manish Maheshwari, managing director, has been asked to come to the Police Station at Loni Border and record the statement within 7 days, as reported by news agency ANI.

As Twitter failed to comply with the government’s new IT rules, it has lost its legal shield. The social media giant and its top executives have now been open to legal action for content on its platform that is considered unlawful in nature. This is the first case against them after the government rules came into effect.

However, it said that it has appointed an interim Chief Compliance Officer as mandated by the centre’s new laws.

The video in question has a elderly Muslim man, Sufi Abdul Samad, who purportedly says he was forced to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’ and ‘Vande Mataram’ by a group that assaulted him, even as the district police responded that he did not make any such allegation in the FIR.

According to Ghaziabad Senior Superintendent of Police Amit Pathak, the victim had not made any allegation of being forced to chant Jai Shri Ram or the chopping up of his beard in his FIR. The police said there was nothing communal about the incident, the man was attacked by six people who were angry with him for allegedly selling fake good luck charms.

However, the victim’s family has denied the police’s claims saying that police are wrong in saying that he used to sell tabeez. They are not in this business, instead they are carpenters, they

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Meanwhile, the Ghaziabad police had filed FIR against Twitter and eight others under IPC sections 153, 153A , 295A , 505 , 120B and 34 in the assault case that took place on June 5.

The post Loni assault case: UP Police send legal notice to Twitter India head over viral video appeared first on APN News.

Hours after an FIR was filed in Uttar Pradesh’s Ghaziabad against Twitter, The Wire, journalists Rana Ayyub, Mohammad Zubair, Saba Naqvi, Congress workers Dr. Shama Mohammed, Maskoor Usmani, Salman Nizami over video linked to an elderly Muslim man’s assault in Loni, that allegedly provoked communal sentiments, a new twist has emerged in the controversy.

Now the family of the elderly man, identified as Sufi Abdul Samad, has denied the police’s claims that he sells tabeez (amulets). His son, Babloo Saifi told NDTV that the police are wrong in saying that his father used to sell tabeez (amulets). No one in his family does this business. He said they are carpenters. The police are not saying the right thing – let them investigate and prove it.

He further said his family filed an FIR at the Loni police station on June 6. Babloo Saifi also said that on the day of the incident, Abdul Samad was taken forcefully to a deserted place after he took an auto. ”The men took my father to a deserted place. Then he was beaten up and his beard was cut off. But my father’s life was saved. He was tortured for four hours,” he claimed.

Abdul Samad alleged that he was forced to chant “Vande Matram” and “Jai Shri Ram” by a group that assaulted him and cut off his beard. However, the UP police said he was lying, that it was not a communal incident as implied in tweets but the man was attacked by six men who were upset over amulets he had sold them.

The social media platform has been accused of not removing the misleading content, a grainy badly shot video clip where Samad is thrashed and his beard cut off by two young men, linked to the incident.

Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad in series of tweets today said what happened in UP was illustrative of Twitter’s arbitrariness in fighting fake news. 

It is astounding that Twitter which portrays itself as the flag bearer of free speech chooses the path of deliberate defiance when it comes to the Intermediary Guidelines. Further, what is perplexing is that Twitter fails to address the grievances of users by refusing to set up a process as mandated by the law of the land. Additionally, it chooses a policy of flagging manipulates media, only when it suits, its likes and dislikes, he added.

The Central government laid down new IT rules in February which came into effect from May 26. Under the new rules, they directed all major social media platforms operating in the country to appoint compliance officers in India, set up grievance response mechanisms, and take down content within 36 hours of a legal order. 

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However, Twitter has refused to comply with the new Information Technology rules, and lost its legal protection from being prosecuted over users’ posts.

The post New twist in Loni assault case, victim’s son refutes police claims, says they don’t sell amulets appeared first on APN News.