Ghaziabad assault case: UP police send legal notice to Twitter India head
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Ghaziabad: The Uttar Pradesh Police have sent a legal notice to the Managing Director (MD) of Twitter India in connection with posts on the micro-blogging site related to the assault of a Muslim elderly man in Ghaziabad.
According to a police official, Manish Maheshwari has been asked to appear at the Loni Border police station in Ghaziabad within seven days of the notice to get his statement recorded in the case.
Ghaziabad police had earlier this week booked Twitter India, some Congress leaders, and a few journalists including Rana Ayyub and Mohammed Zubair for 'inciting communal sentiments' through tweets related to the assault of the elderly man.
In the FIR, the Police invoked IPC sections 153 (provocation for rioting), 153A (promoting enmity between different groups), 295A (acts intended to outrage religious feelings), 505 (mischief), 120B (criminal conspiracy) and 34 (common intention) against them.
The Editors Guild of India and the Mumbai Press Club have condemned the FIRs filed against journalists.
The police claim the video was shared to cause communal unrest.
They have maintained the incident took place because the accused were unhappy about the 'tabeez' (amulets) sold to them by the victim, Abdul Shamad Saifi.
In the video that triggered a nationwide reaction, Saifi purportedly says he was attacked by some young men and forced to chant 'Jai Shri Ram. But, according to the district police, he has not made any such allegations in his FIR lodged on June 7, two days after the incident.
The Ghaziabad Police has so far arrested nine people in the case.