Hyderabad, Aug 1 (IANS) The Telangana government has relieved Hyderabad Deputy Commissioner of Police (Cyber Crimes) V. Aravind Babu of his duties two days after Meta India head, along with several Facebook and Instagram accounts, were booked over content targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
According to sources, the officer has been ordered to report to the State Police Headquarters.
The action came after the government reportedly took a serious view of the manner in which the FIRs were registered over the alleged derogatory posts during the recent Cockroach Janta Party protests over NEET paper leak.
Cyber Crime Police on Thursday registered cases against the India head of Meta, Arun Srinivas, as well as several Facebook and Instagram accounts for alleged circulation of morphed and objectionable videos and images of the Prime Minister on the social media platforms.
The FIRs under various sections of BNS and the IT Act have been registered on the basis of complaints filed by S. Aravind Reddy, a businessman and BJP sympathiser, and T Saikiran Goud, a Telangana BJP activist.
The complainants stated that while browsing Instagram, they came across multiple morphed and digitally manipulated videos and images portraying the Prime Minister in an obscene, derogatory and misleading manner.
Saikiran Goud submitted a list of 20 Facebook and Instagram links along with his complaint and sought action against Meta for hosting the content.
Meanwhile, Telangana BJP has condemned what it called the ‘vindictive’ action by the Congress government.
“Congress is consumed by poison and hatred beyond redemption! Congress government has relieved a Hyderabad DCP after he registered FIRs against Meta and several social media accounts for posting derogatory, morphed and objectionable content targeting PM Modi ji,” said state BJP chief N. Ramchander Rao in a post on X.
“The officer was merely following the law and discharging his duty. Yet, driven by its deep hatred for Modi ji, the Congress government chose to punish him for doing his job. Welcome to the banana republic of Telangana. The Bharatiya Janata Party strongly condemns this vindictive action,” he added.
Hunting down the Cyber Crime DCP for registering cases under the law against those who posted defamatory posts targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the peak of the Congress government’s ‘sycophantic’ actions and their ‘Tughlaq-style’ rule, reads a post from the state BJP’s X handle.
By openly shielding the rebellious forces that abuse the Prime Minister, the Congress government has exposed its despicable true nature. It is intimidating impartial officials and rendering the police system impotent for its own political gains. Throwing peace and security to the wind and standing in support of social media gangs that tarnish the nation’s honour is a testament to the Congress party’s anti-national character, it said.
–IANS
ms/uk
