Delhi LG grants prosecution sanction against Shehla Rashid over tweets

Delhi Lieutenant Governor V.K. Saxena has granted prosecution sanction against Shehla Rashid Shora, former vice president of the JNU Students' Union and member of AISA, for her two tweets against the Indian Army.

The tweets were aimed at promoting enmity between different groups and indulging in acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony, said the L-G office on Tuesday.

The L-G has granted the prosecution sanction under the relevant section 196 of CrPC 1973.

The proposal to this effect moved by the Delhi Police and supported by the Home Department, GNCTD, had submitted the following facts: "On 18.08.2019, one Ms. Shehla Rashid, resident of Kashmir made following two tweets about the Indian Army:-

"Armed Forces are entering houses at night, picking up boys, ransacking houses, deliberately spilling rations on floor, mixing oil with rice, etc" at 12.00 PM on 18.08.2019, and,

"In Shopian, 04 men were called into the Army Camp and 'interrogated' (tortured). A mic was kept close to them so that the entire area could hear them scream and be terrorized. This created an environment of fear in the entire area," at 12.00 PM on 18.08.2019."

However, the Indian Army had made a statement that the allegations levelled by Shehla Rashid were baseless and rejected them. "Such unverified and fake news are spread by inimical elements and organizations to incite unsuspecting population," the Indian Army had said. After the incident, an advocate Alakh Alok Srivastava made a complaint regarding the above tweets of Shehla Rashid.

The Home Department, GNCTD, in its observations on the file has observed that, "the nature of case, location to which the tweets refers and making false allegations against the Army makes it a serious issue. Not every tweet is to be proceeded with, under criminal law. But the tweet of the kind in this case needs to be processed against Religious fault-lines have been created in J&K by the likes of Ms. Shehla Rashid. The case is made for prosecution u/s 153A IPC. This relates to public order."

--IANS

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