The Hyderabad cyber crimes police on Thursday, September 5, registered an FIR against Telugu Scribe, a regional media outlet, under charges of promoting enmity between two groups.
Telugu Scribe was booked under sections 66 C (Punishment for identity theft), 66 D (Punishment for cheating by personation by using computer resource) of the Information Technology Act and 196 (Promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, etc ) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
The FIR was registered based on the complaint of one R Nitish Kumar, constable at the cyber crime police station.
The complainant alleged that the X account of Telugu Scribe posted inflammatory content which could create religious tensions and promote communal disharmony. “These posts are circulating in Twitter, and contain disturbing clips of lighting up public property showing reason religious disturbances.(sic)” the complaint said.
The said videos have been deleted by Telugu Scribe.
On Wednesday, September 4, Jainoor in Asifabad district witnessed communal violence between Adivasis and Muslims. The violence was triggered by an alleged attempt to rape a woman from the Adivasi community. Adivasi organisations called for a bandh in Jainoor town to protest against the incident. During the bandh, a large number of Adivasis gathered and engaged in arson targeting the other community.
Shops, vehicles and properties of the Muslims were vandalised and set on fire. Police have imposed a curfew in the district to prevent the spread of the violence.