Nagpur violence: 10 FIRs filed, 84 arrested, social media posts investigated

India Today

Nagpur police have filed 10 FIRs and arrested 84 people following recent violence and arson. The cyber cell is investigating over 140 social media posts that may have incited unrest.

Transcript

00:00In Nagpur violence and arson case, 10 FIRs in total have now been filed, which means

00:05multiple FIRs with different kind of complaints also have come in.

00:1084 people arrested till now in the violence case.

00:13No religious, according to information coming in, remember, even female cops appear to have

00:18filed a complaint that the mob, the one that you see on your screen, molested the female

00:24cops.

00:25Remember, because the cops also were caught off guard.

00:27So there were barely a few who were deployed late into the night, about 7 to 8 p.m.

00:31The cops, female cops have alleged that they were molested, that one of them was attempted

00:37to be stripped as well.

00:39What kind of a mob this really was?

00:41What were they protesting about?

00:43Now, remember that there was a issue that, was there a rumor that was spread that a chadar,

00:50a holy chadar with some specific holy verses was burnt during a VHP protest that led to

00:55the aggression on the ground.

00:56Nagpur police has said no religious text was burnt during that protest on 17th March.

01:03There was just a rumor mongering that was done.

01:06I want to bring in Mustafa Shaikh for the latest on that because Mustafa, remember,

01:11has been on the ground.

01:12He's speaking to eyewitnesses on both sides, trying to ascertain what exactly happened.

01:16Mustafa, 10 FIRs.

01:18How is the Mumbai police, the Nagpur police, I correct myself, is ensuring that peace prevails

01:23but to ensure these rioters are caught?

01:54That was the pretext to, you know, basically influence hate or motivate hate against the

02:01police and this violence and riots after that had taken place.

02:05So, which were the specific accounts, whether they are only Indian accounts or accounts

02:09outside India, which specifically, you know, raise this false narrative based on rumor

02:15after which this thing has happened.

02:18So social media on ground and also you can say that the other factor for Nagpur police

02:23is to see when they are in a position to lift the curfew which has been placed in the jurisdiction

02:28of 10 police stations because there are many shops which are affected, many businesses

02:32which are affected due to this shutdown.

02:35So these are three things which Nagpur police is working on.

02:38Social media has been of big focus and that's why they have said that whatever analysis

02:43they have done, religious leaders they have consulted, there is no specific religious

02:48text was written on that piece of cloth or chadar which was burned during the protests

02:52back to you.

02:53Something should have been done by the police and the administration earlier to take religious

02:57community leaders in confidence.

02:59They did not anticipate the violence that will come out but the fact is the police needs

03:03to set a benchmark, law and order, irrespective of any community, any group.

03:07This mob violence cannot be permitted.

03:09Just imagine the fear by the families who were residing in these residential areas,

03:13women and children huddled in their home when a mob just went on rampage, arson and violence

03:18and now cops, female cops alleging they were molested too.

03:31So where does the investigation now stand by the Nagpur police?

03:34Here's what is happening.

03:35Maharashtra police is looking, why are there cyber cell now?

03:38They are investigating the kind of social media posts, inflammatory content which means

03:44they have identified over 140 posts and videos.

03:48What does that mean?

03:49Maharashtra cyber cell has identified and reported over 140 objectionable content which

03:55could have been provocative in nature including posts and videos across social media platforms

04:00that could have incited communal unrest.

04:02These videos and posts were found uploaded on social media sites, Facebook, Instagram,

04:07YouTube.

04:08The cyber cell is now investigating this, they are looking at what kind of posts and

04:13importantly who was pushing it, what handles were pushing, what kind of content that could

04:19incite violence.

04:20Just think about this.

04:21In the afternoon, some Hindu groups protesting in different parts of Maharashtra against

04:26Aurangzeb burning effigy and more.

04:29By evening it appeared, by 7-8 pm aggression shown by this mob primarily where we can see

04:36some members of the Muslim community have come forth indulging in full on arson and

04:40violence.

04:41Many have been detained as well.

04:43As Mustafa Sheikh, my colleague continues to be with us, Mustafa tell me this that do

04:48you think now cyber cell's role is going to become significant?

04:52There are CCTV, there are other digital evidence, how is the cyber cell coming into this investigation

04:57when we talk about the Nagpur March 17 violence case?

05:28So, a common link or a key person, influential person, who was that person, was there any

05:35funding or any organisation which is involved.

05:39For these things, the police will have to go to the root cause of this entire gathering,

05:44illegal gathering which has taken place and hence, of course, the arrests have been made

05:48but also they are trying to analyse the social media posts from which country of origin those

05:54social media posts were made from, who are the people who have made these social media

05:58posts, whether they have made similar such inflammatory posts before.

06:01So, that is the link which the police is trying to establish through analysing the social

06:05media content.

06:06They have registered 4 FIRs just under the IT Act regarding this entire social media

06:11posts.

06:12They are requesting all the agencies like Facebook and YouTube to remove such content

06:19which is inflammatory.

06:21So, basically to identify who are the main people behind this protest, social media has

06:26become important in the investigation of Nagpur Police back to you.

06:29Mustafa, please keep tracking all the latest on that.

06:31He is on the ground in Nagpur and he is getting us details where a curfew like situation presently

06:36in several jurisdictions.

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