Two women from Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh have sent a legal notice to BJP’s IT cell chief Amit Malaviya for sharing a viral video where a man had claimed that the women ‘protesting’ there are being paid Rs 500 every day to protest.
As per reports, the two women, Nafisa Bano and Shahzad Fatma have sent a defamation notice to Amit Malviya, for sharing the video on social media. The notice mentions that the women are seeking Rs 1 crore for ‘damages’ and an apology from the BJP official claiming that Malviya’s actions ‘constitute the offence of defamation’.
As per reports, the notice has been sent via the office of one Mehmood Pacha, the ‘legal adviser’ of the protestors. The notice reportedly states that Malviya’s actions constitute defamation. The women have alleged that since Amit Malviya is a member of the ruling BJP, therefore has a “vested interest in defaming the mass of protesters”.
They have claimed that the video shared by Malviya was a ‘fraud on the general public’ and an attempt to ‘bring disrepute to the protesters who are bringing the attention of a large number of people on the issues being pressed by this extraordinary exercise of Constitutional freedom’.
As per a report in India Today, the notice stated, “A video posted and endorsed by you on social media site Twitter, which has been played across several media platforms, had alleged that the protesters are taking Rs 500-700 in order to be a part of the protests. Such statements are not only false but also have an effect of defaming the protestors in the national and international community,”
The video mentioned here is the viral video shared by Malviya where a shopkeeper in Shaheen bagh area was seen claiming that the protests are not spontaneous but are being professionally ‘organised’. He had claimed that women there are being paid Rs 500-700 per day to sit and ‘protest’. He had also stated that free food is being provided and ‘protestors’ are being brought on a shift basis to make the venue appear crowded all the time.
https://twitter.com/amitmalviya/status/1217505504915873792?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Malviya had also claimed that the Shaheen Bagh ‘protests’ are political gameplay of the Congress party.
It is notable here that after violent riots, arson, vandalism and violence in Jamia Nagar, Seelampur, UP, West Bengal and several other places by Muslim mobs, Muslims in the Shaheen Bagh area have been ‘protesting’ against the CAA and the proposed NRC for over a month.