Syed Ali Mujtaba

A Facebook user shared the viral clip and wrote: “Traitor in Police -: Latest News: Shahnawaz Khan, who worked as DSP in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, was caught by an anti-corruption team with illegal weapons and crores of Rupees. He was caught red-handed as he was handing out guns, pistols, etc. to his friends. Indeed, a Muslim can never be a patriot… even if he is in a government job; he is ready for anything to spread terror… now Yogi Baba will take this case well!”

This post was attached to the video and was essentially a bribery case that was deliberately turned upside down to malign the entire Muslim community and spread canard against them without any rhyme or reason.    

The sequence of the story goes like this; one person goes to the police station to file a case in under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. He meets the head constables Shahnawaz Khan and Yogesh Kumar who demanded a bribe of Rs 20,000 which was later renegotiated to Rs 15,000. The victim went to the police station with the bribe money along with the Vigilance department team that entrapped Shahnawaz Khan. This arrest was captured live by the Vigilance team to showcase its accomplishments.

 Confirming that it was a bribery case, Rajesh Singh, a Vigilance team member refuted the false claims on social media. “Shahnawaz was arrested only for taking a bribe of Rs 15,000 and there were no weapons or crores of cash with him,” Rajesh Singh said.

Shahnawaz, was a head constable and not a DSP as reported in the social media. He was a Peshkar (person who does documentation) in the ACP’s office in Babupurva, Kanpur. The allegation of supplying weapons and crores of cash was only a canard that was spread by anti-Muslim forces in social India.

It seems some people with anti-Muslim agendas are regulating social media with the sole purpose of spreading hatred against Muslims in India.

Such a kind of cybercrime is a new kind of hate crime that has sprung up under the BJP rule. Making use of the power of the Internet such crime is being committed and such criminals go scot-free as there is none to rein in the Hindu nationalists.

The saddest part is there is none to raise the voice against such injustices going on against Muslims in India.   This is a chilling commentary on the status of Muslims in India.