The Uttar Pradesh police have booked Shams Tabrez Qasmi, editor of Millat Times, a community media organisation for posting pictures of Kanpur violence on Twitter. The police have invoked section 505 and 507 of IPC and 66 of IT Act against Qasmi and accused him of spreading provocative and fake news.
In a tweet, Qasmi said that the charges against him are baseless and will not deter him from doing journalism. Police has filed a case against me over my video tweet regarding Kanpur violence. The case and charges against me are baseless. This attempt of the UP police to silence me will not work. I will continue doing journalism to hold power to account.— Shams Tabrez Qasmi (@ShamsTabrezQ) June 6, 2022
The violence broke out in Pared, Nai Sadak and Yateemkhana areas of Kanpur on Friday after a procession was taken out over blasphemous remarks made by BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma during a TV debate recently.
Qasmi on his part shared the video on social media, for which, the police accused him of spreading provocative and fake news. On receiving the FIR, he declared that the police were, trying to silence him.
The Press Club of India also expressed concern over the FIR registered against Qasmi. In a tweet, they demanded the withdrawal of the FIR against the journalist. The Press Club of India is concerned and dismayed over an FIR filed against Shams Tabrez Qasmi (@ShamsTabrezQ), editor of Millat Times by the UP Police over a tweet. We demand withdrawal of FIR against the journalist. https://t.co/behA3ohiGM— Press Club of India (@PCITweets) June 6, 2022
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Ghazala Ahmad is the Delhi Correspondent for The Cognate.
