Loni assault case: Ghaziabad Police sends legal notice to Twitter India, others

The Ghaziabad Police on Thursday sent legal notices to Twitter India and others accused of sharing the viral video of an elderly man in Loni being assaulted with the intent of "provoking communal unrest".

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Loni assault case: Ghaziabad Police sends legal notice to Twitter India, others
The Ghaziabad Police on Thursday sent legal notices to Twitter India and others in the Loni case. (Photo: File)

In the latest update in the Loni assault case, the Ghaziabad Police on Thursday sent legal notices to Twitter India and others accused of sharing the viral video of the elderly man being assaulted in Loni, Ghaziabad with the alleged intent of "provoking communal unrest". The notices were sent via mail.

Earlier, on Tuesday night, the Uttar Pradesh government had filed an FIR at Loni Border police station against Twitter, journalists and two Congress leaders for sharing the video.

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In the FIR, the Ghaziabad Police claimed, "There is no communal angle to the incident in Loni where a man was thrashed and his beard was chopped off. The following entities -- The Wire, Rana Ayyub, Mohammad Zubair, Dr Shama Mohammed, Saba Naqvi, Maskoor Usmani, Slaman Nizami -- without checking the fact, started giving communal colour to the incident on Twitter."

ALSO READ: Loni FIR: Twitter’s never-ending brush with Indian law | Explained

On Thursday, a police complaint was lodged against actor Swara Bhaskar, Arfa Khanum Sherwani, Asif Khan of Twitter India and Manish Maheshwari, who is the Twitter India head over the same issue. However, a fresh FIR has not been filed yet.

WHAT HAPPENED IN LONI

On June 5, 72-year-old Sufi Abdul Samad Saifi was thrashed by six people. The assailants beat him and also chopped off his beard. A video of the attack went viral on social media a few days later and was shared by many.

On June 7, the elderly Muslim man lodged an FIR against unidentified persons. He was accompanied by local Samajwadi Party leader Ummed Pahalwan Idrisi. Later, the victim took part in a Facebook Live during which he alleged he was not only thrashed by the assailants, but also forced to chant 'Jai Shri Ram'.

The police has, so far, arrested nine people accused of beating the old man. Two of them were granted bail on Thursday.

ALSO READ: Loni assault: Ghaziabad Police registers case against local leader who accompanied victim to file FIR