Lucknow: A man was arrested in Gorakhpur on Sunday for allegedly defaming Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath on social media. This is the fourth such arrest in the last three days.
The complaint against the accused "was received on Twitter," Gorakhpur Police said in a tweet on Sunday evening. He was arrested for posting "objectionable content" against Yogi Adityanath, police said. A mobile phone was also seized from the man.
वरिष्ठ पुलिस अधीक्षक गोरखपुर के निर्देशन में #gorakhpurpolice द्वारा ट्वीटर के माध्यम से मिली शिकायत माननीय मुख्य मंत्री महोदय की छवि धूमिल करने हेतु आपत्तिजनक पोस्ट करने के आरोप में 1 अभियुक्त गिरफ्तार घटना मे प्रयुक्त मोबाईल बरामद। @Uppolice pic.twitter.com/Koa7a2L25J— GORAKHPUR POLICE (@gorakhpurpolice) June 9, 2019
Earlier, freelance journalist Prashant Kanojia, Ishika Singh, head of a Noida-based news channel, and Anuj Shukla, one of the editors of the channel, were arrested for allegedly making “objectionable comments” and “propagating defamatory content” against Adityanath.
An FIR was registered against Kanojia at Hazratganj police station in Lucknow on Friday night in which it was alleged that the accused made "objectionable comments against the CM and tried to malign his image."
Kanojia had shared a video on Twitter and Facebook where a woman is seen speaking to reporters of various media organisations outside the CM office claiming that she had sent a marriage proposal to the CM. Singh and Shukla were arrested on Saturday.
The Editors Guild on Sunday condemned the arrests, describing the police action as an "authoritarian misuse of laws" and an effort to intimidate the press. "The police action is high-handed, arbitrary and amounts to an authoritarian misuse of laws," the Guild said in a statement.
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