The city police on Monday registered a suo motu case against ‘Mangalore Muslims’ Facebook account on charges of posting derogatory and hate content on the death of Union Minister Ananth Kumar.
In the post, the creator, who claims to be an associate of the admin of the Facebook page, said there was no need to mourn the death of Mr. Ananth Kumar, who was the man behind holding the rath yatra conducted by senior BJP leader L.K. Advani. Accusing Mr. Ananth Kumar and Mr. Advani of instilling hatred among youth against Muslims, the post said this had led to the demolition of Babri Masjid and attack on several Muslims. Death of persons, who are not committed to secular values, should not be mourned, the post said.
Police sub-inspector of Mangaluru South police station has registered a case under Section 505 (1) and (2) of the IPC. Deputy Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) Hanumantharaya said the police were considering invoking provisions under the Information Technology Act against the account.
This is not the first time the police have booked a case against the Facebook account. Earlier, the then Mangaluru Police Commissioner M. Chandra Sekhar received orders from the local magistrate court to write to the Union Ministry of Information Technology to block the page for posting derogatory content. This was followed by another letter by Mr. Sekhar’s successor, T.R. Suresh, who is now the Police Commissioner.
Mr. Hanumantharaya said the police would shortly write another letter to the Ministry reiterating the need to block the page where content posted continues to be derogatory and would cause communal trouble. The admin of the page is not visible, he said. The police are looking for the admin of the page and also persons who have commented on the post.