The Uttar Pradesh Police have summoned Twitter India managing director Manish Maheshwari for questioning within seven days in connection with the posting and promotion on the microblogging site of an allegedly manipulated video of the assault of an elderly Muslim man in Ghaziabad.
The summon was issued two days after Twitter, news website wire.in, journalists and Congress leaders were booked for “promoting enmity between religions” for posting and promoting the video amid conflicting narratives of the attack. The video purportedly showed the man being beaten up and his attackers cutting his beard.
The 72-year-old man’s family and friends have said the man’s attackers forced him to chant “Jai Shri Ram” and chopped off his beard. The Uttar Pradesh Police have claimed there was no communal angle to the attack even as a?Samajwadi Party leader said that the police deliberately left out the alleged communal slogan chanting from the First Information Report filed in the case.
Akhilesh Kumar Mishra, the investigating officer in the case, said the notice was issued to Maheshwari late on Thursday evening under the regular provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) and he has been asked to appear within seven days and record his statement. “The notice is served so that he appears to record statements under the CrPC’s Section 161.”
The section empowers an investigating officer to seek the appearance of any person who appears to be acquainted with the facts and circumstances of a case.