The Karnataka High Court on Thursday restrained the Uttar Pradesh Police from arresting Twitter India head, Manish Maheshwari, in the case related to the attack on a Muslim man in Ghaziabad. Maheshwari was asked by the UP Police to appear before the Loni Border Police Station after several Congress functionaries and journalists shared the video alleging that the Muslim elderly man was allegedly forced to chant Jai Shri Ram while being attacked on camera.
According to the Livelaw website, the single bench of Justice G Narender said, “Prima facie the petitioner is apprehending deprivation of liberty.” The judge added, “There will be an interim order restraining the respondents from initiating any coercive action against the petitioner.”
Those facing police action included journalists Saba Naqvi, Rana Ayyub, Congress politicians Salman Nizami and Mashkoor Usmani and Mohammed Zubair from Alt News.
Ayyub has already received a similar relief from the Bombay High Court in the same case.
The video of an elderly Muslim man being attacked by a group of people had gone viral. The Ghaziabad Police had issued a video statement saying that there was no communal angle in the video as being claimed by a few journalists and Congress politicians. A report by news agency PTI had said that the attackers included both Hindus and Muslims. They include Parvesh Gurjar, Arif, Adil and Mushahid. According to the police, the dispute was over the purchase of an amulet since Samad allegedly practised occultism and had sold a taaweez to Gurjar.
The UP Police had initiated criminal proceedings against Naqvi, Ayyub, Zubair, Nizami, Usmani and Twitter India. The controversy had led to a war of words between Congress MP Rahul Gandhi and UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who had invoked ‘Lord Ram’ to slam the Congress leader.
