After lodging FIRs against five persons including journalist Zakir Ali Tyagi, Shamli police have registered a case against a Bihar-based YouTube channel named Hindustani Media over similar allegations.
The channel has over 300K subscribers and 4.2K videos.
The FIR, registered on Sunday, stated that the YouTube channel posted the death of Feroz Qureshi as mob lynching, which according to the police statement is false.
In a police statement, it is alleged that Feroz’s death is not related to the lynching. “It was also informed earlier that it is clear from the post-mortem report that the cause of death was not assault. The deceased had entered the accused’s house drunk. Despite this, the incident has been deliberately posted on social media as mob lynching to spread communal hatred. In the registered FIR, action will be taken as per the PM report. Appropriate FIR has also been registered against malicious posts and legal action will be ensured,” the statement read.
The police have invoked BNS Section 196 (Promoting enmity between different groups on the grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony) and Section 353 (Statements conducing to public mischief).
Feroz, a scrap worker with no criminal record, was allegedly beaten to death by an angry mob over allegations of theft in the Jalalabad town of Shamli district.
Only after Feroz’s family protested, a case against three persons – Pankaj, Pinky, and Rajendra – was lodged.
On July 5, journalists Zakir Ali Tyagi, Waseem Ali Tyagi, and three others posted about Feroz’s death on X which led the Shamli police to take action against them.
Speaking to Siasat.com, Zakir Ali Tyagi said he is ready to fight the case legally. “If I had tweeted a fake news the allegations make sense. But that is not the case. I tweeted about a lynching case that happened in Samli two days ago. I will fight this legally,” he said.
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