Uttar Pradesh Police arrest journalist Prashant Kanojia for 'indecent' social media post on Ram temple

The Uttar Pradesh Police has arrested a journalist for allegedly sharing an objectionable social media post on Ram temple, claiming that he did so on instructions of a Hindutva outfit's chief, an official said on Wednesday.

Accused journalist Prashant Kanojia had also been arrested in June last year for allegedly making objectionable remarks against Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on social media, but had been granted bail on orders of the Supreme Court.

"Journalist Prashant Kanojia was arrested from Delhi yesterday in connection with an indecent post," Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central) Somen Barma said on Wednesday.

The FIR against him was registered at the Hazratganj police station on 17 August for allegedly sharing an "indecent" post on his Twitter handle and saying that he did it on orders of Hindu Sena chief Sushil Tiwari, who denied the allegation.

The FIR registered on the complaint of Sub-Inspector Dinesh Kumar Shukla said, "On 17 August, it was seen that Prashant Kanojia through his twitter handle (@Pjkanojia) had uploaded an indecent post related to Ram temple stating that it was done on orders of Tiwari."

The post was uploaded to "malign Tiwari's image", said the sub-inspector in his complaint, adding that "such posts can disturb peace".

The case against Prashant Kanojia was lodged under various sections of Indian Penal Code, including section 420, and those of Information Technology Act.

In a Facebook post on 17 August, Sushil Tiwari had denied he had anything to do with the indecent post on the Ram temple. He had asserted that he was with 'Hindutva' and not with 'fake posts'.