FIR against 8 Twitter handles in Unnao case

The Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh has started cracking down on social media offenders in a big wayThe Unnao police on Sunday lodged an FIR against eight Twitter handles and its users including themojostory run by senior journalist Barkha Dutt on charges of spreading misleading information in connection with the recovery of the bodies of two minor girls in Baburha village of the districtThe other handles against whom the FIR has been lodged include BhimSenaChief run by Nawab Satpal Tanwar NilimDutta janjagranlive SurajKrBaudh spokesperson Azad Samaj Party vijayambedkarUP Abhaykumarazad97 and RahuldiwkrEarlier on Saturday former MP and Congress leader Udit Raj had been booked by Unnao police for allegedly spreading misinformation through his tweetUnnao police claimed that the users of these eight twitter handles had tweeted that the two minor girls who were found dead in the fields were sexually assaulted and that their last rites were performed against the wish of their familiesThe Twitter users have been booked under charges of spreading rumours with the intention of causing riots and under relevant sections of the Information Technology ActSuperintendent of police Unnao Anand Kulkarni said All those who tried to flare up tension and disturb harmony through different social media platforms will not be let off We have lodged an FIR and will conduct a probe into the tweets The misinformation was deliberately spread by people associated with parties units and groups which are trying to discredit the ruling government and disturb the prevailing law and orderKulkarni claimed some of the updates and tweets were removed after the police issued a statement that the postmortem report has not confirmed rapeThe SP said despite the postmortem examination ruling out sexual assault and injuries on the bodies of the victims some people and parties having vested interests continued to spread misinformation that the girls were rapedSimilarly neither the police nor the administration was trying to conduct last rites of the two girls The family told us that some of their relatives were to arrive from Surat and they would then perform the last rites of the girls he addedMeanwhile in a statement on the FIR themojostory said We have reported all dimensions of the tragedy the familys anxieties and allegations as well as the police response at every step If this case is pursued we will confidently defend our journalistic rights and freedom in the courtThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever