RAIPUR: A BJP youth wing leader was booked on charges of allegedly posting obscene content against a Muslim IAS officer on a social media platform WhatsApp in Chhattisgarh’s Raigarh.
Prakash Agrawal, vice president of Bhartiya Janta Yuva Morcha (BJYM) in Raigarh posted an “indecent and obscene” comment against IAS officer Shammi Abidi.
On May 21, Abidi, a 2007-batch woman IAS officer was transferred to Raigarh as district collector. On the same day, Prakash allegedly posted the message in local Chhattisgarhi language along with the IAS officer’s picture, commenting over her transfer.
When several group members on the messaging platform registered objection to his post, the accused left the group.
The screenshot of the comment went viral on social media, following which the WhatsApp group’s administrator, a journalist, lodged a complaint to police.
Based on the complaint, Agrawal was booked under IPC sections 292 (sale of obscene books) and 500 (punishment for defamation) and relevant provisions of The Information Technology Act, a police official said.
The accused has not yet been arrested, he said. A probe is underway in the matter, he added.
Abidi, is married to Jagdalpur Superintendent of Police (SP) Arif Sheikh, an IPS officer. “The collector was in Jagdalpur when she was informed about the incident. Investigation is going on,” said Sheikh.
A political analyst Parivesh Mishra, who hails from the same place where the BJYM leader lives, said that the IAS officer was targeted with such filthy things by these people just because she happens to be a Muslim.
With PTI inputs