Ladakh Police issue notice to Kargil activist for tweet about Tripura violence

The Ladakh Police have issued a show-cause notice to political activist Sajjad Kargili for his tweet about the recent violence in Tripura, the Kashmir Observer reported on Monday.

Kargili told the newspaper that he was produced before the tehsildar in Kargil on October 31. “The tehsildar asked to respond to the notice on November 2,” he added.

On October 27, the activist said in a tweet that Muslims were being targeted by Hindutva mobs in Tripura. “...Their houses, mosques are being vandalised and burned,” he wrote. “Strongly condemn these non stop attacks on Muslims in Tripura.”

Kargili also posted two photographs that were purportedly related to the violence.

The notice issued to the activist stated that his tweet creates an impression that such an incident had taken place, and is therefore likely to “spread hate/dislike against members of a particular community”.

It has also directed Kargili to “produce reliable, trustworthy and concrete evidence” to show that anti-Muslim violence had erupted.

The Superintendent of Police, Kargil, Anayat Ali Chowdhary told the Kashmir Observer that the tehsildar has booked Kargili, and not the police.

The activist, who contested the previous Lok Sabha elections from the Kargil constituency, told The Hindu that he was merely reposting reportage about the violence in Tripura.

Violence in Tripura

On October 26, a mosque and several shops were vandalised in North Tripura district’s Panisagar sub-division during a Vishwa Hindu Parishad rally, according to The Indian Express. They were holding the rally against attacks on Hindus in neighbouring Bangladesh.

Earlier, the state unit of the Jamiat Ulama (Hind) had alleged that mosques and multiple localities dominated by Muslims had been attacked. Subsequently, the Tripura Police said that they were providing security more than 150 mosques in the state.

On October 27, the Tripura Police claimed that the law and order situation in the state was “absolutely normal”. The police also asserted that no mosque was burnt in the North Tripura district.

The police added that cases have been registered against those spreading “fake news and communally sensitive rumours” and that legal action will be taken against them.