Hyderabad cops book official bjp4India Instagram handle for communal, inflammatory video

Hyderabad: The Rajendra Nagar Police booked a case against the official Instagram handle of BJP ‘bjp4India’ for circulating an inflammatory and communal anti-Muslim animated advertisement promoting enmity and hatred against Indian Muslims.

In her complaint to the police, Shiba Minai, a socio-political activist said that on May 1, while she was surfing through the internet to watch election reels she came across an animated video of Bharatiya Janata Party, posted and circulated through its official Instagram page ‘bjp4india’.

Malicious content

The animated video started with an animated image of prime minister Narendra Modi accompanied by a voice-over appeal. Shiba Minai said that the content in the animated video was malicious; it claimed that the Congress Party harbours intentions to unlawfully seize the wealth of non-Muslims to redistribute it exclusively among Muslims. The video additionally depicted Muslims as infiltrators.

The video concluded with an image of PM Narendra Modi and the slogan “Abki baar 400 paar (this time, beyond 400 seats).”

The Instagram page bjp4india boasted a staggering follower count exceeding 7.7 million.

“I, as an Indian Muslim, a law-abiding citizen of India, was deeply disturbed after watching this election advertisement of a ruling and major political party vilifying India’s Muslims and creating communal tensions between Muslims and rest of the communities by making all false and spiteful comments. The deliberate creation and dissemination of the animated anti-Muslim communal video by the BJP were calculated to incite and propagate enmity among various communities based on religious lines. This intentional and malicious conduct also egregiously offended my religious sentiments and disparaged both my religion and community,” Shiba Minai said.

Shiba Minai said that the video was deleted after a few hours but there were 31 lakh downloads before it was deleted.

Breaking MCC

The content in the video is a clear violation of the Model Code of Conduct mandated by the Election Commission of India, which expressly prohibits canvassing and solicitation of votes based on religion.

Such videos contents, writings, animations and speeches where inegalitarian divisive and stigmatising words are used and communities provoked violate both the fundamental rights guaranteed under Articles 14, 15, 16, 21, and 25 of the constitution and provision of IPC, such as section 153A, 153B, 295A and 506 of IPC.

In an October 2022 order, the Supreme Court issued a direction to the state police wherein it had directed that: “As and when any speech or any action taken place which attracts fences such as section 153A, 153B and 2955 and 505 of the IPC etc, Suo moto action shall be taken to register cases even if no complaint is forthcoming and proceed against the offenders in as accordance with Law.

The court has further said that non-compliance would amount to contempt of court. “I urge you to take cognisance of the content, register a case against the perpetrator identified and arrest them for the cognizable offences,” the Shiba Minai said.