In a major crackdown, the police in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, formerly Aurangabad, have arrested and jailed at least 80 people for posting communal or inflammatory content on their social media, a top official said here on Tuesday.
District Superintendent of Police (Rural), Manish Kalvaniya, said that since January this year, the police have closely monitored objectionable content on social media like status, videos, MMS, SMS, rumours and other stuff either created or forwarded without verification.
The Cyber Police teams tracked down those making such offensive posts on various social media platforms like WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc., from different parts of the district and booked them under the relevant laws.
The 80 accused are from Khultabad, Sillod, Vaijapur, Pishor, Paghod, Bidkin, Kannad, Phulambri, Gangapur and other towns and have been sent to jails, said Kalvaniya.
He cautioned that the police are closely monitoring all content being circulated on social media and those found forwarding/creating fake stuff, inflammatory messages, videos or photos, comments, tags, etc. that can disturb communal harmony in this sensitive city would be strongly dealt with.
Kalvaniya has even appealed to parents to keep track of their children’s social media activities, as a majority of the (80) accused booked are from the 19-30 age group, and the offence can attract up to three years in jail.
(The story has been published via a syndicated feed with a modified headline.)
