Odisha man arrested for spreading hate speech in social media

Bhubaneswar: The Bhubaneswar Police has arrested a 19-year-old Muslim teenager for allegedly spreading communal hatred through social media, a senior officer said on Monday.

The cyber crime police arrested the accused, identified as Arshad Alli (19), on Sunday night in connection with a case registered on the basis of a written complaint lodged by an individual on October 9 this year, the police said.

In his written report to the police, the complainant alleged that one video was uploaded and circulated on social media containing false, baseless, provocative, hate-speech content, and the said posting may provoke violence, and it is promoting communal hatred while insulting Hindu sentiments and issuing violent threats.

The illegal act of the persons in the video was live-streamed on social media, where four individuals were having a video chat with each other, the complaint alleged.

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Their video chat promoted hatred on the grounds of religion. It also insulted the religion or the religious beliefs. The said persons also promoted communal violence and were discussing the recent violence incident in Cuttack city, the police said.

On the basis of the complaint, Ali was apprehended from the Birdhi police station area in Jagatsinghpur district on the night of October 12, said Bhubaneswar-Cuttack Police Commissioner S Dev Datta Singh.

“The persons who are forwarding such messages are equally responsible as those who are creating such hate speeches,” Singh said.

He warned of legal action against the persons who are forwarding such messages on social media platforms.

“I hope that people will refrain from forwarding such posts and messages on social media,” the police commissioner said.

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