Loni incident: UP Police files FIR against Twitter, Journalists, denies communal angle

Recently a video went viral on social media where six people could be seen trashing a 72-year-old man. The assailants also chopped off the victims' beard and it was reported that the victim was made to chant slogans like "Jai Shree Ram" and "Vande Mataram".

Ghaziabad Police on Wednesday filed FIR against nine entities, including Twitter India in connection with the Loni incident. In the FIR, the Police said, "There is no communal angle to the incident in Loni where a man was thrashed and his beard was chopped off. The following entities -- The Wire, Rana Ayyub, Mohammad Zubair, Dr Shama Mohammed, Saba Naqvi, Maskoor Usmani, Salman Nizami -- without checking the fact, started giving communal colour to the incident on Twitter and suddenly they started spreading messages to disrupt the peace and bring differences between the religious communities."

"During inquiry no communal angle found. As per them (accused), it's a case of personal dispute over an amulet. We arrested & jailed 3 accused who thrashed him. Teams are working to arrest other accused," said Ghaziabad SSP. 

The official furthr said, content published on social media regarding this is irresponsible & unverified. Incident took place over an amulet. We've registered FIR against those who published this on social media to give it a different angle, 7 people & Twitter & Twitter India have been named in FIR.

"Our team is monitoring this continuously. Stringent action will be taken against all attempts to disturb communal harmony & peace. Accused do not belong to a single community, they belong to more than one community," said Ghaziabad SSP Amit Pathak.

During inquiry no communal angle found. As per them (accused), it's a case of personal dispute over an amulet. We arrested & jailed 3 accused who thrashed him. Teams are working to arrest other accused: Ghaziabad SSP on Loni incident where man was thrashed & his beard chopped off pic.twitter.com/WuXOEKv9BA

— ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) June 16, 2021

Our team is monitoring this continuously. Stringent action will be taken against all attempts to disturb communal harmony & peace. Accused do not belong to a single community, they belong to more than one community: Ghaziabad SSP Amit Pathak

— ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) June 16, 2021