Details Of Journalist Rana Ayyub's X Account, Tweets Awaited: Delhi Police To Court In FIR Over Posts 'Insulting Hindu Deities'

The Delhi Police on Wednesday filed an action taken report before a Delhi Court in a case registered against journalist Rana Ayyub for allegedly insulting Hindu deities and spreading anti-India sentiment through her posts on 'X' (formerly Twitter) platform.

The police filed the ATR before the Court of Chief Judicial Magistrate Himanshu Raman Singh of Saket Courts.

The Police has said that details of Ayyub's X account and the alleged tweets in question are still awaited and that the posts are not available on the social media platform.

The court had earlier ordered FIR against Ayyub after a complaint was filed by lawyer Amita Sachdeva, accusing the journalist of insulting Hindu deities and spreading anti-India sentiment through her tweets. She further alleged that one of Rana's tweets “defamed Veer Savarkar.”

The police has said that during the course of investigation, a notice was uploaded on twitter portal on January 28 for obtaining details of alleged X account of Ayyub and the tweets allegedly posted by her on her account.

The report further states that again notices were sent to X on March 03, April 10 and April 22 for obtaining details of the X account but the reply is still awaited.

“Moreover, on checking the 'X' Platform the alleged tweets are not available on the 'X' (twitter) on receipt the reply from 'X' further investigation will be conducted accordingly and investigation of the case will be finalized,” the report added.

Today, the Court asked fhe Delhi Police to file a fresh report and listed the case for further consideration on July 30.

The FIR was registered against Ayyub, after the judge observed that "prima-facie" cognizable offences were made out against her punishable under Section 153A (promoting enmity between different groups), 295A (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class) and 505 (statements conducing public mischief) of the Indian Penal Code, 1860.

On November 11 last year, Amita Sachdeva, a lawyer by profession, had filed a complaint on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal requesting criminal action against Ayyub for the social media posts.

Sachdeva alleged that Ayyub has consistently used her social media to insult Hindu Deities, malign the fabric of Indian unity and promote hostility toward India and its citizens including Indian Army.

It was Sachdeva's case that despite follow ups, no action was taken on her complaint. Accordingly, she filed an application under Section 156(3) of CrPC seeking registration of FIR against the journalist.

While allowing the plea, the judge noted that as per the action taken report, it was stated that during the preliminary inquiry and based on the content of the complaint, it was determined that the nature of the offence described in the complaint was non cognizable in nature.