A Delhi court on Monday remanded Congress worker Arun Reddy to one day’s judicial custody for circulating a doctored video of Union home minister Amit Shah on social media, the Hindustan Times reported.
On May 3, the Delhi Police arrested the 37-year-old Congress worker for allegedly sharing the video in which Shah purportedly claimed that the Bharatiya Janata Party would end reservations for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes in government jobs and education.
Reddy is the All India Congress Committee’s national coordinator for social media and runs the “Spirit of Congress” account on X.
On Monday, the police sought Reddy’s judicial custody for two weeks, but the duty magistrate, Neha Garg, sent him to one day’s judicial custody and said that the matter was pending before another judge. The magistrate directed that Reddy be produced before the concerned judge on Tuesday.
The Congress worker also filed a bail application before the court, which issued the notice to the Delhi Police and listed the matter for Tuesday.
Reddy was arrested after multiple raids in the national capital and other states, including Telangana, Deputy Commissioner of Police Hemant Tiwari said on May 4. Reddy’s electronic devices were also seized to investigate the software he used to tamper with the original video.
What Shah had actually said, during an election rally in Telangana, was that the BJP would do away with reservations for Muslims in the southern state. Muslims have had access to 4% reservations in education and government jobs under the Other Backward Classes category in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh since 2007.
On Friday, Telangana Congress leader Manickam Tagore said in a social media post that Reddy had been detained by the Delhi Police without any notice or first information report.
On April 28, the Delhi Police, had registered first information report under sections 153 (wantonly giving provocation with intent to cause riot), 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion), 465 (punishment for forgery), 469 (forgery for purpose of harming reputation), 171G (false statement in connection with an election) of the Indian Penal Code and relevant sections of the Information Technology (IT) Act, reported the Hindustan Times.
After initial interrogation of Reddy, the Delhi Police have also added the charge of 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code in the case, reported the newspaper.
The questioning with Reddy suggested that multiple persons conspired, edited the original video and circulated it on social media platforms to spread “misinformation and create public disorder”, the newspaper reported citing unidentified police officials.
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