Kolkata: Days after the riots erupted in the West Bengal Baduria, north of 24 Parganas, in July, about the alleged fire of a young man on Facebook that harmed the sentiments of the Muslim minority community, a Kashmiri man remaining in Calcutta was arrested for a similar cause.
Kashmiri youth reportedly posted anti-national comments on their Facebook wall, police said Thursday.
Arshad, 30, was in a guest house in the Anwar Shah Road area of southern Calcutta and was stopped by the lake police station after local residents complained about his messages Anti-national on Facebook.
“Arshad has come to town for the last 12 years for his clothing business. Each time he used to stay in this particular guest house and became friends with some locals who noticed his activities on Facebook and informed us” , A senior officer of the said Lake Police Station.
Arshad’s posts began appearing after India lost to Pakistan in the Champions Trophy final in June, he added, adding that the youths arrived in the city a couple of days ago when some residents caught him and handed him over to the police.
“We are investigating whether this person has links to any terrorist group or not. We are also analyzing their activities on social networking sites,” the official said.
The Special Special Police Force of Kolkata (STF) is also investigating the matter, he said.
In contrast, the Basirhat of West Bengal, an area near the Indo-Bangla border, became a hotbed of communal clashes after the accused had posted objectionable observations on Facebook on July 2, 2017.
Although the accused fled at night, he was later arrested by police from a rice field the following morning. The defendant was referred by the Basirhat Branch Court to police custody for four days.
But public anger continued as many roads were blocked and several houses were burned by protesters. The center deployed paramilitary forces as teams from the Kolkata Police Rapid Action Force (RAF) attempted to control the area affected by the violence.
Security forces banned ministers and administrators from entering Basirhat. Bharatiya Janata party chairman Amit Shah had formed a three-member committee to investigate the state of affairs in Basirhat, but central security officials barred them from entering the region as well.
