On Monday (June 28), the Mumbai police lodged a First Information Report (FIR) against a Facebook user for allegedly posting a morphed picture of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Sharad Pawar.
As per reports, the complaint was filed with the local police station in Chembur by one NCP worker named DS Sawant. In his complaint, he claimed that a source at the Antop Hill locality had informed about the Facebook user who had posted an objectionable photo of Sharad Pawar.
The Police said that the accused has been identified and that they have initiated the probe to trace him. The cops have booked the Facebook user under Indian Penal Code (IPC) Sections 153 (provocation to cause riots), 500 (defamation), and relevant provisions of the Information Technology (IT) Act.
FIR filed against social media users for ‘objectionable’ posts against Sharad Pawar
This is not the first time that an FIR has been registered for alleged ‘objectionable’ posts against the NCP supremo. On May 22, the Bandra Cyber Cell police arrested BJP Yuva Morcha Secretary Pradip Gavade for criticising Sharad Pawar and his grandnephew Rohit Pawar on Twitter. A case was registered against him under sections 295A, 500, and 505/2 of the IPC as well as IT Act 67. BJP had called the arrest politically motivated and had accused the police of acting at the behest of the Maha Vikas Aghadi government.
Earlier in March, the Pune Rural Police had filed an FIR against unidentified persons in connection with an alleged objectionable tweet against the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief. The FIR was filed at Baramati Taluka Police station based on the complaint registered by one Abhijit Bhanudas Jadhav, an NCP functionary. A police officer privy to the details of the case informed, “The content in both the tweet and reply is of objectionable nature. We have launched a probe into these accounts.” According to BJP leader Suresh Nakhua, social media user Vedashree was one of the persons against whom the FIR was lodged.