An engineering student, claiming to be a BJP member, has been arrested in Pune for posting inflammatory tweets calling for the mass slaughter of Muslims in the wake of the Shamli-GodhraAgain Hashtag controversy in Uttar Pradesh.
The student was allegedly running a Twitter account under the name of Amitesh Singh with the handle @AmiteshSinghBJP.
The account caused a flutter on social media after it posted a tweet calling for the slaughter of Muslims.
The objectionable tweet, posted on May 2, said: “#GodhraAgain #FilthyIslam showing its colors. Kill at least 3,000 Muslims tomorrow.” This was widely reported and condemned by users. Thereafter, he deleted his Twitter account and erased his Facebook profile. Before its deletion, the Twitter account apologised for the previous tweets and asked for forgiveness from his “Muslim friends.” In an unverified online interview, the student has said his account was hacked.
The second-year student is under custody till May 11. The police booked him under 153-A of the IPC (promoting enmity between different groups) and 295 (a) of the IPC (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs.) He was also booked under Section 66F of the Information Technology Act (intent to threaten the unity, integrity, security or sovereignty of India or to strike terror in the people or any section of the people.)
While the police maintain that they could not prove his association with the BJP, the student’s profile on Twitter showed him to be the president of the BJP Yuva Morcha’s Pune unit. The student also claimed to be close to BJP MPs, including Anil Shirole of Pune, with whom he even posed for a photograph. Mr. Shirole did not respond to phone calls from The Hindu . Screenshots circulated on the social media also show that the handle of Prime Minister Narendra Modi followed the account.
Inspector Satish Nikam told The Hindu that prima facie the student had no links with the BJP.
