The Kerala Police on Saturday said that they have registered 54 cases in connection with allegedly inflammatory social media posts about serial blasts in the Ernakulam district on October 29, PTI reported.
Three persons died and 41 were injured after at least two big explosions occurred at a convention centre of Christian religious group Jehovah’s Witnesses in the Kalamassery municipality area.
The highest number of cases about alleged inflammatory content pertaining to the blasts – 26 – was registered in the Malappuram district, followed by Ernakulam (15) and Thiruvananthapuram (5). Two cases each were registered in Thrissur city and Kottayam. One case each was filed in Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha, Palakkad and Kozhikode Rural.
The police said that they identified several fake profiles that were used to share posts that could incite communal hatred, according to PTI.
“Requests have been made to Facebook, Instagram, X, WhatsApp and other social media platforms to identify the IP addresses of such fake profiles,” a press release from the police said. “The cyber cell in the state is functioning round the clock to identify such handles.”
Earlier this week, the police filed a case against Union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar for his comments on the blasts.
The Bharatiya Janata Party leader was booked under Indian Penal Code Section 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence) and Section 120 (o) (causing nuisance and violation of public order) of the Kerala Police Act.
Following the blasts, Chandrasekhar said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, that Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan was protesting against Israel in New Delhi while “open calls by terrorist Hamas for jihad is causing attacks and bomb blasts on innocent Christians”.
The BJP’s Kerala chief K Surendran alleged that the action against Chandrasekhar was aimed at “helping” and “encouraging” divisive forces and those with extremist views.
On October 30, the police had arrested the man who claimed responsibility for the blasts in Thrissur. The man, Dominic Martin, had surrendered to the authorities hours after the explosions took place.
Before surrendering, Martin had said in a social media post that he was enraged at the “teachings” of the Jehovah’s Witnesses congregation. The post was later deleted.
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