The activist group Legal Rights Observatory(LRO) has filed a complaint against the former journalist Irena Akbar who had yesterday made a clarion call to “Muslims and Secular non-Muslims” to boycott the chain of gyms and beauty parlours owned by Sachin Sahni, alleging that the Businessman is a “rabid Islamophobe”.
Complaint sent to Lucknow CP @lkopolice against Irena Akbar for her communal, hate packed business boycott call against Sachin Sahni for his political views. We have urged @Uppolice to book her under 153A, 295 & 295A for spreading hate @myogiadityanath@swati_gs @UnSubtleDesi pic.twitter.com/GxaHO1UPIf
— Legal Rights Observatory- LRO (@LegalLro) January 24, 2020
In the complaint, the LRO had alleged that the former journalist made communally, hate-packed business boycott call against Sachin Sahni for his political views and urged the UP Police to book her under Section 153A(Promoting enmity between different groups on ground of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc.), 295(Deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) and Section 295A(hate speech) of the Indian Penal Code.
Yesterday, the former Indian Express journalist had unleashed vitriol against the Lucknow-based businessman-Sachin Sahni for his support towards the CAA. In her tweets, Irena Akbar called on Muslims and ‘Secular non-Muslims’ to boycott the chain of gyms and beauty parlours owned by Sachin Sahni, who, according to Akbar, is rabid Islamophobe.
Irene Akbar posted screenshots of the allegedly ‘offensive’ posts uploaded by Sahni on his social media timeline. She asserted that Sahni’s Muslim customers have begun boycotting the services provided by Healthzone that include gyms and beauty parlours. She has also urged Muslims to boycott the Keeros brand of health snacks sold on Amazon and in malls in Delhi as it is owned by Sachin Sahni. She said that Healthzone has “earned crores from Muslims who form a large (maybe 50%) chunk of their clients.
Is this woman setting up another man in Lucknow for a Kamlesh Tiwari-like fate? Nothing in the man’s posts suggest what this woman is accusing him of. Remember, the mob won’t even wait to understand what their target actually said or meant. https://t.co/GztQLwnnR5
— Swati Goel Sharma (@swati_gs) January 23, 2020
Her tweets sparked off a massive controversy with many alleging that her tweets attacking Sachin Sahni may possibly provide a target to the Islamic fundamentalists, inciting radicals for another Kamlesh Tiwari like incident. Before long, she protected her Twitter account, rendering the general public unable to view her tweets. However, LRO has decided to persist with their complaint against the former journalist for spreading hate against the businessman.
