Maharashtra Police to block 22 social media accounts for propagating communal disharmony
Forty-eight police stations have been looking for objectionable content online after communal tensions prevailed in different parts of state.
The Maharashtra cyber cell on Tuesday proposed to block 22 accounts on social media for promoting communal disharmony, ANI reported.
“In the wake of the atmosphere at present, we started looking for accounts propagating communal disharmony content,” said Sanjay Shintre, Maharashtra Cyber Cell Superintendent of Police.
Shintre said that the cyber cell has been proactive given the current political climate. Forty-eight police stations under the department are actively filtering out social media accounts that post objectionable content.
The state’s cyber cell officials on Tuesday said that they had identified 12,000 posts defaming public officials, ANI reported.
Communal tensions had prevailed in the Amravati district on Sunday after a saffron flag was hoisted in the Muslim-dominated Delhi Gate area of Achalpur. A curfew was imposed in the neighbouring cities of Achalpur and Paratwada in the Amravati district on Sunday evening after communal violence broke out. The police have arrested 23 people and registered a first information report for rioting and assaulting officials.
The ultimatum by Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray over the removal of loudspeakers from mosques also drew criticism from various religious groups, the Hindustan Times reported.
On Tuesday, the Maharashtra Police said that the Supreme Court’s guidelines on the use of loudspeakers must be followed. They can only be used between 6 am and 10 pm with prior permission from the police.