Twitter did not 'remove false tweets': Delhi lawyer files police complaint against Twitter Inc, Swara Bhaskar, three others

Delhi-based lawyer Amit Acharya has filed a police complaint against actress Swara Bhaskar, “Twitter Inc”, “Twitter Communication India Pvt Ltd” and Twitter India MD Manish Maheswari, for “not taking any action” to remove “false tweets”. The complaint comes after an elderly Muslim man was reportedly beaten up in a town in Uttar Pradesh’s Ghaziabad district on 5 June, and the video of the abuse went viral on Twitter. Tweets around the incident indicated that the victim was forced to chant “Jai Shree Ram” by the attackers, a **claim that was later denied** by the Ghaziabad Police. Based on a separate complaint by another individual, an FIR was filed  in relation to this incident on 15 June, against nine accused including “Twitter Inc” and “Twitter Communications India Pvt Ltd”. In his complaint, Acharya claims that Swara Bhaskar, Mohammed Asif Khan and Arfa Khanum Sherwani, used Twitter to start “propaganda to spread hate amongst the citizens” and “gave communal colours to the incident”. [caption id=“attachment_9698491” align=“alignright” width=“1280”]  Image: Pixabay[/caption] He adds in his complaint that the tweets about the elderly Muslim man’s abuse were shared by the accused with intent to “initiate conspiracy against religious harmony in the country to encourage hate and enmity between the religious groups”. Acharya, in his complaint, also writes that “Twitter Inc”, “Twitter Communication India Pvt Ltd” and Twitter India MD Manish Maheswari “did not take any action to remove these false tweets” and did not “filter these tweets as manipulated media”. He also claims that the company’s “sole objective” was to “disturb the peace and harmony among the citizens of India”. He demands that the accused be punished “as per the law of the land in the interest of justice”. Currently, it’s unclear if an FIR has been registered based on the report. Incidentally, Acharya has also filed a petition in the Delhi High Court, seeking directions to Twitter to comply with the new IT rules. (Also read: Explained: Twitter loses "legal shield" in India: What it means for the platform, why it happened ) Below are some of the tweets Acharya annexed in the complaint:

RW & Sanghis vomiting on my timeline ‘coz Ghaziabad police named 3 Muslims. Jackasses the prime accused is literally a Pravesh Gujjar. The man is on camera forcing the old man to chant #JaiShriRam
Yes it is a desecration of my God and my religion and I’m ashamed.. as shud you be

— Swara Bhasker (@ReallySwara) June 15, 2021

Agree. I can believe a bunch of Muslims beat up an old Muslim man, but forced him to chant #JaiShriRam & cut off his beard?! That really the whole story? Anyway.. Love how Sanghis r conveniently ignoring the prime accused that Pravesh who beat the old man & forced him to chant! https://t.co/wv4XQFSRuj

— Swara Bhasker (@ReallySwara) June 15, 2021

More from News & Analysis

What is the US HIRE Bill and why is India’s $250-billion IT sector worried? Is the internet dead? What's this theory that OpenAI's Sam Altman says might be true?

A Muslim man of yr grandfather’s age was brutally slapped,thrashed, kicked,his beard was violently cut while he was forced to chant JaiSriRam.
The cutting of the beard was to insult him for his religious identity.
This happened in the name of Hindus.
Your silence is your approval

— Arfa Khanum Sherwani (@khanumarfa) June 14, 2021

(Also read: Twitter appoints interim Chief Compliance Officer for India; says additional details will be shared with IT Ministry directly )