Mukesh Kumar, the resident editor of Sudarshan News, was arrested by Gurugram Police on Friday for allegedly disseminating inaccurate information linked to the communal clashes in Haryana, as reported by PTI.
The violence unfolded in Nuh on July 31. The turmoil resulted in the death of five individuals, including two home guards and a Bajrang Dal member. The violence quickly spread beyond Nuh, with Hindu mobs wreaking havoc in Gurugram, notably setting fire to a mosque in Sector 57 and causing the death of its teenage imam.
On August 8, via a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, Kumar alleged that Al Jazeera, a media organization funded by Qatar, was influencing Gurugram Police Commissioner Kala Ramachandran to target Hindus in connection to the violence. He asserted that the Deputy Commissioner’s intervention led to the arbitrary arrest of Hindu activists, urging Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar to acknowledge his allegations.
Gurugram Police stated on Friday that Kumar’s tweet lacked substantiation and was misleading.
Kumar has been charged under Section 66C of the Information Technology Act, along with Sections 153B (making assertions prejudicial to national integration), 469 (forgery to tarnish reputation), 501 (printing or engraving defamatory content), and 505 (1)(C) (inciting statements) of the Indian Penal Code, according to police.
Initially, Sudarshan News alleged that Kumar was abducted by unidentified individuals from his car in Gurugram’s Sector 17 while he was on his way to support Hindu activists in Mewat. However, the channel later stated that Gurugram Police took seven hours to issue a press release about the arrest.
Denouncing the arrest, Sudarshan News expressed support for Mukesh Kumar and labelled the arrest as an assault on media freedom.
Suresh Chavhanke, Editor-in-Chief of Sudarshan News, warned Gurugram Police to release Kumar, hinting at a significant announcement if his demands were not met by Saturday. In a later update, Chavhanke declared Kumar’s release around 11:40 pm, accusing “conspirators” of planning to jail Kumar until August 15.
