College student held in Kolkata for provocative post against Mamata Banerjee

Kolkata: Kolkata Police on Monday arrested an undergraduate female student of a city college on charges of making a provocative social media post against Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee over the rape and murder of a junior doctor at the state-run R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata earlier this month.

Police sources said that Kirti Sharma, who uses the handle ‘kirtisocial’ on Instagram, is accused of encouraging people to assassinate Chief Minister Banerjee, and disclosing the identity and photograph of the 31-year-old victim whose bruised body was found on the hospital premises on the morning of August 9.

Condemning the posts, the Kolkata Police said in a statement, “A complaint was received about the Instagram ID ‘kirtisocial’, which contained offensive material related to the recent RG Kar Hospital incident. The posts included the victim’s picture and identity, as well as life threats against Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. These comments are deeply provocative and could incite social unrest and foster communal hatred.”

The police had earlier summoned former BJP Lok Sabha MP and actress-turned-politician Locket Chatterjee and two city doctors for questioning for their social media posts on the issue, which the police found to be objectionable.

The police have also issued two notices for interrogation to Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha member Sukhendu Sekhar Ray for making “objectionable” social media posts on the issue, following which Ray approached the Calcutta High Court seeking protection from any coercive action, including arrest.

The authorities had earlier appealed to the netizens to refrain from revealing the identity of the victim or spreading misinformation about the tragedy through social media.

However, even after the caution, a section of netizens made posts on social media revealing the victim’s identity, which prompted the police to act in the matter.

Last week, the Calcutta High Court had also cautioned netizens to be careful before making social media posts in this matter.

–IANS