A teacher of Sadat Hostel in Muzaffarnagar lodged a case with Civil Line Police Station on Tuesday against persons who had spread the fake news of hostel students’ sexual harassment after they were arrested post the violence of December 20 during the protest against CAA.
A month after the incident, teacher Naeem Alam has lodged a complaint against this fake news. Violence broke out in Muzaffarnagar during the protest against CAA on December 20 in which a person died and several students of Sadat Hostel were arrested for their alleged involvement in the protest. These students were, however, released by the police due to the lack of evidence.
While appreciating the police for releasing the students in the absence of any evidences against them, Alam, in the complaint, charged a section of media and social media for spreading fake news of sexual harassment of students in police custody. This news, which was widely circulated, has maligned the image of the students of the madarsa and hostel.
He demanded stern action against all those who were involved in spreading the fake news and said that a thorough investigation was carried out to verify these news but found no truth behind these.
SSP of Muzaffarnagar Abhishek Yadav said that it is the first complaint ever registered in the district against ‘fake news’. The case has been registered under section 22 of POCSO on the complaint of teacher Naeem Alam and the SIT which has been investigating incidents of December 20 violence will investigate it.
The incident of Sadat Hostel was highlighted as its maulana was badly beaten up and its students detained on charges of their involvement in the violence during the protest. The matter got more limelight after Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi visited the elderly Maulana and raised the issue of police excesses on him.
But, this FIR against the fake news a month after the incident has raised the suspicion of some Muslim leaders who, on the condition of anonymity, said that why the complaint was not lodged immediately and what took the complainant to come to police after a month when people were beginning to forget the incident. The complainant teacher Naeem Alam, however, could not be approached as the mobile number mentioned in the FIR was found non-existent.