As part of the Eid Milad celebrations scheduled to be held on Wednesday, a cutout of Tipu Sultan was erected, as in previous years, at the Tipu Nagar locality in Chikkamagaluru.
IMAGE: Kindly note that the image has been posted for representational purposes only. Photograph: ANI Photo
A 23-year-old youth was arrested on Monday for allegedly posting and circulating an edited social media reel featuring a 40-foot cutout of 18th-century Mysuru ruler Tipu Sultan with a pro-Pakistan song, the police said.
Key Points
- A video showing the cutout of Tipu Sultan, edited with a pro-Pakistan song refering to ‘Pakistan Mujahideen’, describing them as protectors of the land was uploaded on social media and subsequently circulated, the police said.
- In this regard, police have also written to Meta seeking IP address details of the account to identify and trace the creator of the reel.
- The matter came to light after a PSI attached to the city police station, while browsing social media on his mobile phone, came across the said reel.
As part of the Eid Milad celebrations scheduled to be held on Wednesday, a cutout of Tipu Sultan was erected, as in previous years, at the Tipu Nagar locality in Chikkamagaluru, they said.
However, a video showing the cutout of Tipu Sultan, edited with a pro-Pakistan song refering to ‘Pakistan Mujahideen’, describing them as protectors of the land was uploaded on social media and subsequently circulated, the police said.
In this regard, police have also written to Meta seeking IP address details of the account to identify and trace the creator of the reel.
The matter came to light after a PSI attached to the city police station, while browsing social media on his mobile phone, came across the said reel, they said.
According to the FIR, while the PSI was checking Instagram, he came across a post uploaded by an account named “Chikkamagalur_power_tippuboys 209”, featuring a cutout of Tipu Sultan put up in Tipu Nagar in connection with Eid Milad celebrations.
The reel accompanying the post contained a pro-Pakistan song, it said.
The PSI stated that the post was likely to adversely affect national integration and communal harmony and was intended to insult religious beliefs and create hatred among communities.
Following this, he informed his senior officers about the matter, the FIR said.
Based on his complaint, a case was registered at Chikkamagaluru Town Police Station under Sections 196 (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to the maintenance of harmony) and 299 (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
Superintendent of police Jitendra Kumar Dayama said that a youth has been arrested for posting and circulating the social media reel featuring the Tipu Sultan cutout edited with a pro-Pakistan song, and efforts are on to trace the creator of the reel.
Further investigation is underway. Police said that in view of the scheduled event, a peace committee meeting was also conducted locally, and all communities were instructed to follow existing rules and practices during religious celebrations. They warned that if anyone tries to create trouble or spoil the atmosphere, strict action will be taken against them.
Hitting out at the Congress, Union Minister Shobha Karandlaje took to social media platform ‘X’ and said the incident reflected the party’s “appeasement politics”.
She questioned Chief Minister D K Shivakumar and home minister Priyank Kharge over what she described as the glorification of “Pakistani Mujahideen” and violent slogans.
“For the sake of vote-bank politics and political selfishness, you are sacrificing the rule of law, weakening public trust, and endangering the peace and unity of the nation,” she alleged.
