Jaipur: Ahead of the massive peace March against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) led by chief minister Ashok Gehlot on December 22 in Jaipur, two men were arrested by the Rajasthan police for posting “objectionable comments” against Gehlot.
Jaipur-based advocate Raj Gopal Saini, who handles a Facebook group called “Ashok Gehlot – Chief Minister of Rajasthan”, had filed an FIR against two men – Lila Ram Sharma and Bheem Singh Golwar – for posting “threat comments” on the CM’s post about the anti-CAA protest march.
“On December 21, one of our group members Juhar Ali Dayer had shared CM’s post of him taking a look at the preparations of the massive protest march which was to be held on the following day. On that post, Lila Ram Sharma had commented: Chief minister Ashok Gehlot, what do you like – a) death b) power c) Jail d) Life ? You have only two days time, and Bheem Singh had commented: Gehlot, you will get an answer from Rajasthan,” the FIR reads.
Screenshot of the “objectionable comments”.
An FIR was registered under various sections of the IPC and the Information Technology Act.
“An FIR was filed against the two men at the Murlipura police station in Jaipur for posting threat messages on the CM’s Facebook post, which was shared on a group. We arrested them from Alwar, but they are out on bail at present,” Murlipura station house officer Ramavtar Singh Takhar told The Wire.
The complainant, Saini, actively promotes the Gehlot government on social media. In the past also, he filed a complaint with the magistrate against a person for posting “derogatory comments” against Gehlot.
“I’ve created this group on Facebook in 2014. It was then called Ashok Gehlot – Next CM of Rajasthan. It has 90,000 active members and I have told Gehlot sahab about it,” Saini told The Wire.
“We ask people to remove objectionable comments or warn them that legal action will be taken. Usually, they comply. But I couldn’t connect with Sharma and Golwar to ask them to remove the post. I thought the situation in the state is sensitive and with the protest march supposed to happen the next day, I took the decision to file the complaint,” added Siani.