FIR against unidentified persons for derogatory hashtag against HC judges

LUCKNOW: The police on Thursday night registered an FIR against unidentified persons allegedly involved in making defamatory and objectionable remarks against judges of Allahabad high court on social media. The comments were made soon after the bench of Allahabad HC Chief justice Govind Mathur and justice Ramesh Sinha directed Lucknow police and the district administration to remove the hoardings of alleged riot accused while taking suo-motto cognizance of the matter on March 9. The comments were tagged under a hashtag and went viral for a while on the day. Police said the FIR was registered on the complaint of social activist Nutan Thakur.

“The FIR has been registered under Indian Penal Code (IPC) Section 500 (defamatory remarks), 507 (criminal intimidation on social media) and Section

› Remarks posted on social media were extremely objectionable, improper and were directed at judges of Allahabad high court and the judiciary. They were posted by different people on social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and also WhatsApp groups NUTAN THAKUR, complainant

66 of Information Technology (IT) Act for offensive message using electronic medium. The matter will be investigated by inspector Devendra Kumar Yadav,” said Santosh Kumar Singh, assistant commissioner of police (ACP), Gomti Nagar.

The complainant, Thakur, said the remarks posted on social media were extremely objectionable, improper and were directed at judges of Allahabad high court and the judiciary.

In her FIR, she mentioned that these remarks were posted by different people on social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and also WhatsApp groups.

Insisting that the comments were extremely personal and malicious in nature, Thakur said the comments clearly hinted that they had been initiated and made viral by certain persons in a deliberate manner. She said she had even saved screenshots of some posts and shared it with the police.