The FIR was lodged following a complaint by the president of the youth wing of the BJP Manipur state unit, Barish Sharma.
TFM Desk
An FIR has been lodged at the Imphal West Police Station against unknown Facebook users, after the president of the youth wing of the BJP Manipur state unit filed a complaint alleging that a post has been circulating on the social media platform which is defamatory to chief minister N Biren Singh.
In the complaint made on Friday, BJYM president M Barish Sharma said that he came across some unknown Facebook users who uploaded a photo in the Facebook page “Kangla Pao Facebook Entertainment (KPFE)”. The photo showed “CM Biren Singh, Nitish Kumar, Biplab Kumar Deb with the rating of ‘Who is the most corrupt CM in India?’ as N Biren Singh 61 %, Nitish Kumar 27 %, Biplab Kumar 12 %.”
Barish Sharma alleged that the context of the Facebook post conspired amongst some vested interested persons, abetting commission of offence by the public or more than ten persons by giving a “direct insult, disaffection and disloyalty” to the present chief minister of Manipur, and the lawfully established Government of Manipur.
“The Facebook Post brings or attempts to bring into hatred or contempt or excites to attempt, to excite disaffection towards the Government of Manipur. The acts are done with intention to cause defamation to the head of the lawfully established Government of Manipur,” he added in the complaint letter widely circulated on social media.
Following the complaint, the Imphal West Police Station lodged an FIR — FIR No. 12(01)2022 IPS u/s 117/120-B/124-A/501/505(1)(b) IPC. Sub-inspector M Rakesh is investigating the case.
Meanwhile, CM Biren informed that two individuals have been arrested for spreading defamatory Information using fake accounts. The chief minister took to Facebook on Friday evening and added that more have been identified.
The controversial photo in question has a logo of ABP News. TFM could not varify the authenticity of the existence of such a report from the news channel.
With just weeks away from the election to the 12th Manipur Legislative Assembly, the social media platforms are ripe with unverified information. These are mainly in the form of memes and videos. Apart from the usual mudslinging amongst political parties, the use of social media to disseminate such unverified information is becoming a norm ahead of elections.