Jharkhand: Muslim man’s abusive video against PM and cows lands him in jail

Mangalore Today News Network

Ranchi,  Jul 25, 2017: Police in Jharkhand’s Hazaribag arrested a 25-year-old Muslim man late Monday night for allegedly abusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi and cows in a video that recently went viral on WhatsApp, Hazaribag superintendent of police Anup Birthare said on Tuesday.

 

Later Tuesday, a judicial magistrate remanded Mohammad Arif to 14 days of police custody.

This is the second incidence in a month when a Muslim man has been sent to jail for speaking explicitly against Modi in BJP-ruled Jharkhand. On June 23, the Sahibganj police arrested 20-year-old Sameer Ansari for allegedly raising anti-Modi and anti-India slogans in a video which was largely shared on social media.

Arif, who was arrested from Keredari block in Hazaribag, about 95 kilometers from the state capital Ranchi, is a motorcycle mechanic, police said.

“The content in the video was explicitly provocative. Any person found spreading communally sensitive content in social media will not be spared,” Birthare said.

In the video, Arif had allegedly disrespected cows and also threatened to slaughter cows openly, police sources said. He had shot the video and was also the first person to share it on WhatsApp, they said.

He added that at least 11 such people, including Hindus and Muslims, have been jailed in Hazaribag alone this year for fanning communal hatred on social media.

The government has prohibited sharing communally sensitive content of social media across all the 24 districts of the state.

Earlier this month, the Hazaribag administration had issued externment orders against 20 people for spreading communal hatred.

At least five incidents of communal clashes have rocked Jharkhand in the past one month.

On July 14, a Shiva temple was vandalized in Hazaribag by a deranged Muslim man, resulting in communal clashes. Giridih district witnessed communal clashes after a Muslim man allegedly vandalized a Durga idol at a village temple on July 18.

On June 29, a Muslim trader Alimuddin Ansari was lynched to death for carrying beef. A Muslim man was thrashed on June 27 by cow vigilantes after the carcass of a cow was found near his residence in Giridih.

Communal flare ups were also reported from capital Ranchi and Jamshedpur.

Courtesy: Hindustantimes