Inflammatory social media posts: Arrest count now 93 in UP

Lucknow: Altogether 16 persons were arrested across the state on Monday for trying to vitiate communal harmony on social media through objectionable posts, taking the total number of such arrests to 93 since the Ayodhya verdict on Saturday.

The arrests have been made for objectionable posts on WhatsApp, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, and giving wrong information to UP 112, police said.

Four persons were arrested in Hardoi, two in Bijnore, one each in Sitapur, Rae Bareili, Shamli, Kaushambi, Banda, Ambedkarnagar, Bareilly, Banda, Noida and Mainpuri.

In Hardoi, one Yogesh Mishra was arrested under the charges of spreading enmity between groups, whereas Shahid Husain of Bilgram was arrested under charges of spreading enmity and deliberate and malicious act intending outrage against a religion or class.

Two others — Amit Srivastava and Mohammed Sayyed — were arrested from Shahabad and Behta on charges of spreading enmity and malicious act intended to outrage a specific class. They all had posted content on Facebook. Similarly, in Sitapur a person identified as Shibu Kumar, who worked as a teacher, was arrested for posting inflammatory content on Twitter in Mehmoodabad police station area.

UP Police’s social media cell also reported 2,555 inflammatory posts on social media taking the count to 10,000 in the last three days.