Controversial Facebook post: Azam Khan justifies boy's arrest

Lucknow, March 18: As a Facebook post attributed to the Uttar Pradesh Urban Development minister Azam Khan, by a Class 12th student snowballed into a major controversy over, the student's family has reportedly agreed to apologise to the minister.

According to a report, senior Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan was quoted saying as, "there was a comment from a boy on Facebook against me which caused problem to me as people started abusing me over phone and started getting flak on Facebook. These incidents will stop only after taking hard steps, his act was highly objectionable."

19-year-old Vicky Khan from Bareilly had allegedly uploaded a 'fake' comment on Facebook that was provocative and attributed to Azam Khan.

A team of crime branch sleuths was constituted which arrested the youth from his residence, after acting on a complaint filed by Khan's PRO Fasahat Ali Khan Shanu.

"The boy posted comments on Facebook which could incite communal tensions and spoil peace and harmony," Circle Officer Aley Hassan said.

The youth was produced yesterday in the court of Judicial Magistrate Azad Singh who sent him on remand and the next hearing in the case is scheduled for Thursday, March 19.

In the post, Khan was targeted with a mention of a provocative speech allegedly delivered by him, Hassan said.

"A quote was posted on Facebook on March 15 that was attributed to the Cabinet Minister(Khan) but it turned out to be fake," Rampur SP Sadhna Goswami said.

Azam Khan defends police action

"If a you write this kind of language, law is implemented strictly and you have seen that within 24 hours the arrest has
been made," he said during a press conference.

Shanu said social media should be used to connect, to spread love and to convey your message to others.

"But some people are doing mischief in it. This kind of mischief can turn out to be very costly," he said.

Shockingly, during investigation, the boy said that "he did not understand the real meaning of content which he had posted on Facebook."

Azam Khan, who had last year, put Uttar Pradesh police into a tizzy over his lost buffaloes, was quoted saying as to a news channel that he got arrested the boy within 24 hours.

He has been booked under Section 66-A of the Information Technology Act and sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, etc.), 505 (public mischief), and 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace) of the IPC.

Meanwhile, the boy's arrest over Facebook post drew flak from the BJP, Congress and BSP leaders.

OneIndia News

(With PTI inputs)