The Bangalore youth, who was detained by the City Crime Branch sleuth along with four of his friends for forwarding an anti-Modi MMS, still continues to be in police custody. The city police filed an FIR on Monday, making his arrest formal.
The five young men, identified as Syed Ahmed Waqas Barmavar, Rahmatulla Maliki, Usama Alangar, Musaib Saada, and Saad Kola were rounded up on Saturday by the City Crime Branch sleuths, dressed in plain clothes.
The police reportedly told the five that their crime was forwarding an anti-Modi MMS. The MMS that got them in trouble showed a corpse morphed with Modi's face with the text "Abki Baar Antim Sanskaar", which is a pun on BJP's election slogan "Abki Bar Modi Sarkar".
Though for many it was only a mere political satire, a BJP worker in Belgaum took offence to the MMS and filed a complaint with the police.
The Muslim youth were then rounded up and interrogated. Four of the youth were let off on Sunday evening but 25-year-old Waqas, the AAP member from Bhatkal, was arrested. He has been now charged under 143/14 us 66A(B) of IT act and 505(2) of IPC.
A relative of one of the youth confirmed the arrest and revealed that they were interrogated for several hours, before four of them were released.
Waqas' brother-in-law Abdul Rab Kola, whose brother Saad was also among the detained, stated that the family will fight for justice. Abdul pointed out that Waqas had received the MMS on WhatsApp, and he had only forwarded it to his friends.
"The message already was doing the rounds in several groups. It is really unjust and we are going to fight against this injustice. Two of the kids had an exam today (Monday), even after going through the police torture, they have gone for their exams. They were all targeted," Kola told IBTimes India.
According to the sections that Waqas has been charged under, the MBA graduate could face imprisonment up to three years for promoting enmity and hatred between different religons.
Goa Case
The incident comes close on the heels of a case in Goa, where a 31-year old faces arrest for an anti-Modi post that he had put up during the Lok Sabha election campaign.
In his facebook post, Chodankar had wrote "There is imminent threat of Holocaust as it happened in Gujarat th(r)ough the garb of cunning government policies of Parrikar." His post was directed against fears that the right-wing group will be harsh on the Christians in Goa.
The post was later deleted and Chodnkar even apologised for his choice of words but Goan businessman Atul Pai Kane, who heads the BJP's committee on investment and industrial policy, took offence and lodged an FIR against Chodankar.
