Union Home Minister Amit Shah addressing a public gathering, Image Source:X
In a significant development, social media platform X withheld the official account of the Jharkhand unit of the Congress Party on Thursday, May 2.
The development occurred days after the Delhi Police special cell issued a notice to the Jharkhand State Congress president, Rajesh Thakur, in connection with the Union Home Minister’s ‘deep fake video’ case.
Thakur has been asked to appear before the Delhi Police Special Cell’s office on Thursday morning, May 2, along with his mobile phones and any other electronic gadgets used in uploading/sharing the said video.
The notice was issued days after a ‘deep fake’ video of the Union Home Minister purportedly talking about scrapping the reservation of Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), and Other Backward Castes (OBC) was posted from the official X handle of the Jharkhand Congress.
In a tweet posted on X on Sunday afternoon, the Jharkhand Congress said that “the Amit Shah election speech went viral in which he said that if the BJP government is formed again, OBC and SC/ST reservations will be abolished.”
Significantly, the said post was not deleted from the account even after the police of several states launched a crackdown on the accused, who created and shared the doctored video of the home minister. The said was visible on the Congress handle till late Wednesday evening, following which the X has now suspended the handle.
Alongside, Thakur, a total of 16 other persons, including Telangana Chief Minister (CM) Revant Reddy were also issued a notice in the case to appear before the special cell.
The notice issued to several persons across many states was based on a First Information Report (FIR) registered under various sections of the Indian Penal Code by the Delhi police special cell on April 28.
As per the FIR, the said video of the Union Home Minister, which soon went viral on several social media platforms, was doctored and spread misinformation with the intent of causing disharmony among communities, which is likely to create law and order issues.
BJP slams Congress
Meanwhile, slamming the Congress party on sharing the video, Bharatiya Janata party spokesperson, Pratul Shahdeo said that “only stuff of hatred is distributed from the so-called shop of love (Mohabbat ki Dukan) of the Congress party. This time they have tried to instigate racial frenzy by sharing the doctored video of the Union Home Minister.”
“The deep fake video of the Home Minister was first uploaded to the official X account of the Jharkhand Congress and they did not bother to delete it shamelessly even after a notice was issued in the case by the Delhi police,” added Shahdeo
Congress seeks four weeks time to respond
Meanwhile, responding to the notice issued to Telangana CM, Revanth Reddy, Telangana Congress Legal Advisor M. Ramchandra Reddy in a letter to the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Delhi, has asked for a four-week time for the CM to respond citing that the latter is a star campaigner for the party in Telangana.
Three held so far
Notably, after lodging of an FIR into the case, State police of multiple States have swung into action and nabbed as many as three persons in connection with creating/uploading the doctored video. The first arrest in the case was made from Assam, where a person identified as Reetom Singh, a resident of Guwahati who is reportedly associated with the Congress party and functions as the party’s ‘War Room Coordinator’, was nabbed by the authorities on Monday.
Other then Reetam, the Ahmedabad Cyber Crime Cell on Tuesday also nabbed Santosh Vansola, a resident of Palanpur of Banaskantha district, along with Aam Aadmi Party’s district president of Dahod district, Rakesh Baria for allegedly sharing the deep fake video of the Union Home Minister.
Initial interrogation of the accused revealed that Vansola has been working as a Personal Assistant (PA) of Congress MLA Jignesh Mewani for around six years.
Home Minister Amit Shah’s clears the air
Significantly, the doctored video was edited from a video clip of the Union Home Minister while addressing a political gathering in Telangana recently, where he had remarked that if the Bhartiya Janata Party forms a government here, we will withdraw the unconstitutional reservation to Muslims here while ensuring that the SCs, STs and OBCs get quotas as guaranteed under the constitution.
However, soon after the gathering, an edited, deep fake video of Shah went viral across several social media platforms, in which Shah was witnessed talking about scrapping the reservation of SCs, STs and OBCs.
Clearing the air on the doctored video, the Home Minister, while addressing another gathering in Guwahati on Tuesday, said that the BJP is always in favour of reservation and will act as its protector. Fortunately, there was a recording of my original speech, and everything became crystal clear after I placed the original clip before everyone.
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