The Uttar Pradesh Police on Sunday reportedly booked YouTube channel Hindustani Media for covering the news that a Muslim man had been lynched by a mob in the state’s Shamli district.
The channel posted a video on Friday saying that a Muslim man, identified as Firoz Qureshi, had been beaten to death by a mob on mere suspicion of theft in Jalalabad town in Shamli district. The report was based on the allegations and complaints of family members of the deceased.
The channel Hindustani Media, which has more than three lakh subscribers, was booked for promoting enmity between groups under Section 196 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and circulating false information to promote enmity under Section 353(2).
Earlier on July 6, an FIR was lodged against five people, two of whom are Delhi-based journalists named Zakir Ai Tyagi and Wasim Akram Tyagi, for circulating false claims on social media that the incident was a mob lynching. The police said that the death was not a case of mob lynching and have filed an FIR invoking charges of culpable homicide not amounting to murder against unknown persons under Section 105 of the BNS.
This is the second report filed against journalists and media organisations in connection with their reports on mob lynching in the BJP-led state.
“We have registered a FIR based on a complaint against the YouTube platform; we are verifying the address and identity of the individual, and a preliminary investigation has started,” Rajendra Vishishth, Station House Officer of the Thana Bhawan police station in Shamli, told The Hindu.
The police action comes as the mob killing of another Muslim man, Firoz Qureshi, or Kala Qureshi, sparked outrage on social media. At least nine Muslim men were lynched by mobs, most of whom were associated with right-wing Hindu groups, since the day of the election results on June 4. The police said that Firoz’s death was not related to mob lynching.
“It was also informed earlier that it is clear from the post-mortem report that the cause of death was not assault. The deceased had entered the accused’s house drunk. Despite this, the incident has been deliberately posted on social media as mob lynching to spread communal hatred. In the registered FIR, action will be taken as per the PM report. An appropriate FIR has also been registered against malicious posts, and legal action will be ensured,” reads the statement.
As reported by Maktoob, journalist Zakir Ali said he only repeated the allegations made by the family of Qureshi.
“The police have registered an FIR against me. This is a direct attack on my journalism, and an attempt is being made to silence me. But what to do? It is our profession, and we should do the right thing. Now even reporting has become a crime,” Ali said, and Maktoob reported.
Political Reaction
Hyderabad MP and AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi slammed the case on X (formerly Twitter) and asserted his opposition to the new criminal law. “This is why I opposed the new criminal laws in Lok Sabha. They are meant to be “misused” against those who speak the truth,” he wrote on social media.
RJD MP Manoj Jha took to X and posted, “So the ‘SOP’ remains the same…shoot the messenger and ignore the message. And it comes from a state that has a history of such violence.”
“Registering an FIR against journalists sharing information in the public interest is a grave overreach and misuse of criminal laws and an assault on press freedom that has a chilling effect,” the news association said.
The Press Club of India and the Indian Women’s Press Corps also slammed the police action against journalists and demanded the withdrawal of the FIR against them.
