A day after the Noida police, the Madhya Pradesh police too have filed a First Information Report (FIR) against Congress Member of Parliament (MP) Shashi Tharoor and six journalists over their 'misleading' tweets on the violence during the farmers' tractor rally in Delhi, an official said on Friday. The FIR was registered in Bhopal after a complaint was lodged by a person called Sanjay Raghuwanshi late on Thursday night, Misrod Police Inspector Niranjan Sharma said.
The journalists named in the FIR are Mrinal Pande, Rajdeep Sardesai, Vinod Jose, Zafar Agha, Paresh Nath and Anant Nath. An unidentified person has also been named in the FIR, he said.
The case against them was registered under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 153 A (promoting enmity between different groups on ground of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc), 153 a (1) b (any act which is prejudicial to the maintenance of harmony between different religious, racial, language or regional groups and which disturb or are likely to disturb public tranquility) and 505 (2) (statements creating or promoting enmity, hatred or ill-will between classes), Sharma said.
"The complainant accused these people of posting false and misleading tweets from their accounts during the farmers' protest on January 26 in the national capital," he said.
Sharma said the complainant alleged that their action led to a "big threat to national security" and caused danger to the lives of many people in Delhi and elsewhere.
A day earlier, the Noida police booked Shashi Tharoor and journalists Rajdeep Sardesai, Vinod K Jose, Mrinal Pande and others for sedition. An FIR was lodged at the Sector-20 police station stating that they tweeted and spread fake news about the death of a farmer during the tractor rally on January 26.
On January 26, a number of protesting farmers clashed with police during the tractor rally called by farmers unions to highlight their demand for repeal of the Union government’s three farm laws.
Many protesters reached the Red Fort and entered the monument. Some hoisted their farmer group’s flags on the domes and the flagstaff at the ramparts, where the national flag is unfurled by the Prime Minister on Independence Day.