A Bajrang Dal leader lodged an FIR against Twitter India Managing Director Manish Maheshwari for showing the wrong map of India, in Bulandshahr on Tuesday.
Maheshwari was subsequently booked under Section 505 (2) of the Indian Penal Code and Section 74 of Information Technology (Amendment) Act, 2008. While Section 505(2) of the IPC pertains to punishment against anyone publishing a statement likely to create feelings of hatred between different groups and has provisions for up to three years in prison and a fine, Section 74 of the IT Act envisages punishment of two years’ prison term and a fine of Rs 1 lakh for anyone publishing content for a fraudulent purpose. Either way, the official could be facing jail time if any merit is found in the complaint.
On Monday, a map of India appearing under the 'Career' section of the Twitter website under the header "Tweep Life' kicked up controversy by depicting Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh as two separate countries. However, late on Monday night (June 28), the global map was removed from the webpage.
A complaint in this connection was filed by Bajrang Dal leader and lawyer Praveen Bhati of Murari Nagar area at Kotwali police station. Expressing disgust at the wrong map of India being highlighted by Twitter, Bhati demanded invoking the National Security Act against the Twitter boss in India.
Station House Officer of Kotwali (Bulandshahr) Dikshit Kumar Tyagi said that based on the complaint, an FIR was registered and the case was being investigated.
Earlier this month, a case was registered against Twitter India in connection with an incident in Ghaziabad's Loni town where an elderly Muslim man was assaulted by some locals and misleading pictures and content was posted on the global social media platform.
