Loni case: NSA invoked against SP leader for stoking religious sentiments

Uttar Pradesh Police on Wednesday invoked the National Security Act (NSA) against Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Ummed Pahalwan, who was arrested for allegedly stoking religious sentiments through his social media posts regarding the assault on a Muslim man in Loni earlier this month.

Ghaziabad:Uttar Pradesh Police on Wednesday invoked the National Security Act (NSA) against Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Ummed Pahalwan, who was arrested for allegedly stoking religious sentiments through his social media posts regarding the assault on a Muslim man in Loni earlier this month.

"An FIR under sections 153-A/295-A/504/505 of Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Section 67 of IT Act was registered against accused Umaid Pehalwan on June 16 at Loni Border police station and he was arrested and sent to jail on June 19. Action has been taken against the said accused under sub-section 2 of Section 3 of the National Security Act 1980 (NSA)," Ghaziabad police tweeted from its official handle. A team of Ghaziabad Police arrested Pahalwan on June 19 in connection with the Loni incident.

According to the FIR filed on June 7, Pahalwan was accused of making the video of the incident. The Uttar Pradesh Police had earlier denied any communal angle in the case. The police had on June 15 filed FIR against nine entities, including Twitter India in connection with the Loni incident.

In the FIR, the police had 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."

Read:Loni incident: Karnataka HC to hear Twitter MD's plea today against UP Police notice

The Uttar Pradesh Police on June 18 sent a legal notice to the Managing Director of Twitter India Manish Maheshwari regarding the viral video of the assault on the elderly man in Loni.

ANI