The Hazratganj police have arrested habitual fake news peddler Prashant Kanojia from his residence on Tuesday, for morphing an image in his social media post in an attempt to spread fake news and incite hatred. The FIR has been filed by the Hazratganj police on the basis of a complaint lodged by one Dinesh Kumar Shukla on August 17, 2020, for the spurious post that was posted by Prashant Kanojia on Twitter on August 16.
पूर्व पत्रकार प्रशांत कनोजिया को UP पुलिस ने किया दिल्ली से गिरफ़्तार, फ़ेक न्यूज़ से दंगे फैलाने का आरोप
— Newsroom Post (@NewsroomPostCom) August 18, 2020
|@Uppolice|
Read-https://t.co/BNDOyUvLfj pic.twitter.com/XfA1uOZnlO
The freelance journalist has been booked under Section-154 of the CrPC, 1973 and IPC sections 153-A (Promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony), 153-B (wantonly giving provocation with intent to cause riot), 420 (cheating), 465 (Punishment for forgery), 468 (Forgery for purpose of cheating), 500 (Punishment for defamation), 505(1)(b) (likely to cause, fear or alarm to the public), 505(2) (offence commited in any place of worship or in an assembly engaged in the performance of religious worship) and 66 (imposed for non-payment of fine).
The controversial journalist had in his Twitter post morphed a poster to insinuate that the ST/SC and backward class people will not allowed in the Ram Mandir. Prashant Kanojia had morphed a poster of Hindu Army chief Sushil Tiwari. The Netizens were quick to identify and point out the treachery on the microblogging site.
Retaining the Hindu Army chief’s picture on the poster, the controversial jounalists replaced the content. He then shared the morphed poster on his Twitter handle with a comment that Sushil Tiwari had ordered that the ST/SC and OBC will not be allowed in Ayodhya’s Ram Mandir. He appealed to people to raise their voice against the same.
Surprisingly, even after the news of he being arrested by the Lucknow police, the controversial journalist has been re-tweeting the news of his own arrest from his official Twitter handle. This made people wonder that either he still hasn’t been handed over to UP police or someone else has access to his social media account.
This is however not the first time the controversial journalist has been arrested. Last year, the freelance journalist was arrested by the Uttar Pradesh government for posting derogatory tweets about Gods, Goddesses and fake allegations on UP CM Yogi Adityanath.
The accused Prashant Kanoja known in social media for habitually spreading fake news, rabid anti-Hindu hate especially against Dalits by making atrocious statements. Prashant Kanoja has a history of making vile comments against Dalits and Hindu saints. He had even referred to Dalits as ‘animals with no brains’ in the past.
