LUCKNOW: Uttar Pradesh police on Saturday arrested a Delhi-based journalist for alleged “hurtful” comments on social media regarding Ayodhya verdict.
According to media reports, the 35-year-old man is identified as Ali Sohrab, who claims to be “a fearful journalist” in his Twitter biography.
Ali owns the Twitter handle @kakavaani and has over 1.6 lakh followers.
Tweeting against Ayodhya verdict
A native of Siwan in Bihar, Ali was arrested from his relatives’ house at Nand Nagri in Delhi for tweeting against the Ayodhya verdict.
His brother Sabre Alam told The Sunday Express told, “Today (Saturday), some policemen in civil clothes came to our house and started asking about him. There were around seven UP policemen and they arrested him, besides seizing his two laptops and a phone,” said Alam.
Ali was arrested under sections 295A, 295B, 66, 67 of IT act and was brought to Lucknow where further proceedings would take place.
Another complaint
Earlier, another complaint was filed at Lucknow on 20 October against Ali for Twitter post following the murder of former Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha and fringe outfit Hindu Samaj Party president Kamlesh Tiwari on October 18.
The complaint stated that “@alisohrab007 is knowingly posting tweets, in which a particular religion is being disrespected, causing enmity between different religious groups.”
Ali’s lawyer Anas, took to Twitter and wrote, “Since none of the charges against Sohrab entailed a punishment of more than three years, getting a bail should not be difficult”, he tweeted.
#ReleaseAlisohrab trends on Twitter
Twitterati have erupted in anger after Ali’s arrest have trended hashtag #ReleaseAlisohrab demanding the activist’s imemdiate release.