Samajwadi Party leader Umed Pahalwan Idris, who appeared in a Facebook Live video alongside Ghaziabad assault victim Abdul Samad, has been arrested by the Uttar Pradesh police in Delhi on Saturday.
Addressing the media, the Ghaziabad Senior Superintended of Police (SSP) said they arrested the Samajwadi Party leader Umed Idris near Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan hospital in the national capital. The officer added that the arrested accused will be now brought to Lucknow in connection with the Ghaziabad assault case.
Earlier, on June 17, Uttar Pradesh Police had booked Umer Idris on June 17 for trying to portray the personal animosity between Abdul Samad and his alleged attackers as a ‘communal’ incident. The SP leader had falsely claimed that the victim of the assault was forced to chant “Jai Shri Ram” by Hindu attackers.
The Uttar Pradesh police said they have arrested nine persons in connection with the Ghaziabad assault case.
Umer Pahalwan Idris communalised the Ghaziabad incident, put out video on Facebook
In the Facebook live video released on June 7, Idris was seen alongside Ghaziabad assault victim Abdul Samad, in which he falsely castigated Hindus for beating up the elderly victim, chopping off his beard and forcing him to chant Jai Shri Ram slogans. Umed Pahalwan Idris, who was seen doing most of the talking on behalf of the victim, gave the incident a communal spin by claiming that Hindus attacked Samad.
Using extremely abusive and crass language, the SP leader had issued open threats to Hindus who he claimed had attacked Abdul Samad.
The “liberal-secular” media establishment, Islamists, had latched onto this particular Facebook live video and began to peddle their usual anti-Hindu propaganda. The left-leaning brigade rushed to communalise the incident of personal animosity to defame the ‘Jai Shri Ram’ chant, which is sacred to Hindus.
This video, along with one another muted video (which now stands deleted) of the incident where the victim was being assaulted, was shared on social media handles by people like Alt News co-founder Muhammed Zubair and several others, namely Rana Ayyub, The Wire, Salman Nizami, Maksoor Usmani, Sama Mohammad and Saba Naqvi. Zubair claimed that Abdul was forced to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’ as he was beaten up and tried to give the incident a communal angle.
However, acting swiftly, a few hours later, the Ghaziabad police uploaded a video apprising of the case giving relevant details and kept the social media users updated with the development thereon.
Taking cognizance of the matter, the Uttar Pradesh government had also filed an FIR on June 15 against Twitter for failing to flag the video with unverified claims as ‘manipulative’ and lack of action. Alt News co-founder Zubair, Rana Ayyub, The Wire, Salman Nizami, Maksoor Usmani, Sama Mohammad and Saba Naqvi have also been booked for spreading misleading and fake news.
Here is the detailed timeline of the Ghaziabad assault case which was used by the Islamists and the secular establishment to shame Hindus.
Umed Pahalwan Idris takes an U-turn
A few days later after the incident, Samajwadi Party leader Umed Pahalwan Idris, who earlier communalised the petty incident, took an u-turn by claiming that he was not aware of any religious angle in the incident. Idris further denied knowing anything about the ‘tabeez’ (occult amulet), for which even one Bauna Saddam had hired the services of occultist Abdul Samad Saifi.
The Samajwadi Party leader also declined of being aware that Abdul Samad was attacked by a group of people that included Muslims too. In fact, he lamented that he was being targeted since he wears a skullcap and has a beard.
The cornered SP leader also put out his “victim card” to claim that he is being targeted since he wears a skullcap and has a beard. He furthered that he did not lie, it was the victim who claimed that he was made to chant “Jai Shri Ram”.
