Facebook page on Ambedkar sparks row
Crowd damages public property in suburban Khar, Bandra areas
More than 200 people damaged public property and indulged in rioting in the suburban areas of Khar and Bandra here late on Monday night, protesting a derogatory page on Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar on the social networking site, Facebook.
The police resorted to lathicharge to disperse the rioters, K.M.M. Prasanna, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Zone IX, told The Hindu.
Mr. Prasanna said an offence was registered in the Khar police station against unknown persons who created the ‘I hate Ambedkar' profile. Two separate cases of rioting have also been registered.
“We also approached the court today [Tuesday] to direct a competent authority to take action for blocking the derogatory page,” he said.
He said the court issued an order to the Director, Indian Computer Emergency Response Team, Department of Information Technology, Ministry of Communication and Information Technology, Government of India, in the matter.
“The court said that the contents of the webpage were grossly offensive and may cause a law and order situation. It directed the authorities to take immediate steps with the Chief Technical Officer of Facebook, U.S., for blocking or deleting the page,” he said.
Elaborating on the way the events unfolded, he said a local Marathi newspaperLoknayak carried an article on Monday stating that a “Punjabi munda had opened a page on Facebook and given a distorted profile of Mr. Ambedkar.”
“At around midnight, more than 200 people gathered outside Khar police station. A delegation demanded that we register a complaint and immediately arrest the person who has opened the page. They also demanded that the website be blocked immediately,” Mr. Prasanna said.
He said that by the time they could look into it, the crowd started rioting, shouting slogans, and pelting stones.
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Facebook asked to block defaced Ambedkar page
Facebook asked to block defaced Ambedkar page
MUMBAI: Armed with a court order, city police asked popular social networking site Facebook to block a page, which allegedly carried a defaced photo of Dalit icon Babasaheb Ambedkar.
According to police, the photo was posted in a page 'We Hate Ambedkar', created by an unknown user.
"Initially, when we contacted Facebook they said that they can't block the link unless there is a court order," Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Himanshu Roy said.
Crime branch sleuths today got an order in this regard from a local court and sent a scanned copy to the Facebook office in the United States of America, he said.
Police has registered a case under the relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and Information Technology Act against the unknown person for posting the photo on the website, Roy said adding that further investigations in the case are on.
Meanwhile, police has arrested five persons, who were among the about 300 people protested outside the Khar police station, demanding that the defaced photo be deleted from Facebook.
The five had allegedly vandalised a few vehicles and pelted stones in the wee hours of Tuesday, police said.
According to police, the photo was posted in a page 'We Hate Ambedkar', created by an unknown user.
"Initially, when we contacted Facebook they said that they can't block the link unless there is a court order," Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Himanshu Roy said.
Crime branch sleuths today got an order in this regard from a local court and sent a scanned copy to the Facebook office in the United States of America, he said.
Police has registered a case under the relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and Information Technology Act against the unknown person for posting the photo on the website, Roy said adding that further investigations in the case are on.
Meanwhile, police has arrested five persons, who were among the about 300 people protested outside the Khar police station, demanding that the defaced photo be deleted from Facebook.
The five had allegedly vandalised a few vehicles and pelted stones in the wee hours of Tuesday, police said.
(the times of india)
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