Published Aug 09, 2023 | 6:53 PM ⚊ Updated Aug 09, 2023 | 7:10 PM
Accused Akbar Syed Bahadur Ali (23) and Mohammed Ayaz (21) of Yadgiri taluk
In what could become a template to check sharing of communally inflammatory content on social media, the Karnataka police have decided to initiate action against those who share such content — and even those who endorse such posts.
Following the arrest of two Muslim men for posting communally inflammatory social media reels, the Yadgiri police are now keen on issuing notices to those who amplified the post.
Notices will be issued to all the netizens who liked, shared, and endorsed the provocative hate videos through engagement, said an official on Wednesday, 9 August.
The show cause notice will seek an explanation as to why an action of obtaining a surety or a bond of ₹25 lakh should not be taken against them as they had been involved in hate propaganda by endorsing such posts.
“The Yadgiri rural police are preparing a list of people from the district who have liked, shared, retweeted, forwarded or even endorsed those hate reels and videos, and all of them would be issued with police notices. All of them will be produced before the Tehsildhar and a surety/bond of ₹25 lakh would be executed from them,” Superintendent of Police (SP) Yadgiri CB Vedamurthy told South First.
“And if they repeat such offences in the future, then we would seize property worth ₹25 lakh from them, besides criminal action,” he added.
The Karnataka police, on Tuesday, arrested two youths from the Yadgiri district for posting provocative videos on social media platforms threatening to behead those who disrespect Prophet Mohammad and urging their community members to follow suit.
The arrested duo have been identified as Akbar Syed Bahadur Ali (23), a resident of Ashinal village and an employee with a private company, and Mohammad Ayaz (21), a resident of Hattikuni Cross, who runs a chicken shop in Yadgiri taluk, the police said.
According to the Yadgiri rural police, they received information from the social media monitoring team about a video that had gone viral on Instagram, Facebook, Threads, and X (formerly Twitter).
The videos were allegedly posted by two of the accused on a handle named syeds_jagirdar_v18 that, according to the profile, belongs to one Syed Ali Akbar Jagirdar.
A Hindutva leader Mohan Gowda, from the Hindu Jagarana Vedike (HJV) tweeted, “Respected @DgpKarnataka @blrcitytraffic @alokkumar6994 Kindly Register FIR and Arrest culprit who provocate Community (sic).”
Respected @DgpKarnataka @blrcitytraffic @alokkumar6994 Kindly Register FIR and Arrest culprit who provoacte Community https://t.co/xlny7NgzU9
— 🚩Mohan gowda🇮🇳 (@Mohan_HJS) August 8, 2023
In the videos which — were uploaded as two reels — Akbar Syed Bahadur and Mohammed Ayaz are seen saying: “Decapitate the head from the body of those who disrespect Prophet Mohammed”; “As per Quran, the only place for Kafirs (non-believers) is hell”.
Another reel shows them “inviting Hindu men in interfaith relationships with Muslim women, to come to a ground for a fight after 15 minutes”.
Soon after the Yadgiri rural police received the information, they registered an FIR based on the tweet and booked the two accused under Indian Penal Code (IPC) Sections 153 — promoting enmity between two groups, and 505(2) — statement conducing public mischief.
Both of the accused had uploaded one video consisting of two reels on several popular social media platforms — Instagram, Facebook, Threads, and X.
“When our men interrogated the two youths, they told the police that they delivered such dialogues to get trolled, get likes, and increase the number of their followers. One of their handles had 9,000 followers and the other social media handle had 32,000 followers,” Vedamurthy told South First.
“From the preliminary investigation, the two youths have no criminal background and they are first-time offenders. We are also probing if they have any affiliations with any religious outfits; however, at this time there seems to be none,” Vedamurthy said, adding the Yadgiri rural police would not spare even the netizens who have engaged with the reels and videos posted by these two youths.
“In this background, I request all members of the general public and youth not to upload any such videos that threaten the peace and tranquillity of the society,” Vedamurthy added.
