LUCKNOW: Uttar Pradesh police on Saturday arrested a journalist for allegedly sharing an ‘objectionable’ post against Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Facebook and Twitter. Freelance journalist Prashant Kanojia was arrested by police after a First Information Report (FIR) was registered against him at Hazratganj police station in Lucknow. The FIR against Kanojia was registered under IPC section 500 and 66 IT Act. In the FIR, which was registered by sub-inspector Vikas Kumar, Kanojia was accused of making “objectionable comments against the CM and tried to malign his image”.
Kanojia, who is a resident of New Delhi, had shared a video on Twitter and Facebook in which a woman can be seen speaking to reporters of various media organisations outside the CM office. In the video, the woman can be seen claiming that she talked to Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath through video conference and she had sent a marriage proposal to him. The woman, who identity is still unknown, also told the reporters that she is awaiting a response from him.
Meanwhile, Hazratganj police station said in a press statement that Kanojia was arrested after he confessed to his crime. The verified Twitter handle of Kanojia @PJkanojia said that he is an alumnus of IIMC and Mumbai University and was associated with some media organisations in the past.
Samajwadi Party has condemned Kanojia's arrest and had slammed the government for harassing the journalists in order to hide its failure on maintaining law and order in the state. He has been charged under IPC sections 500 (defamation), 505 (public mischief) and relevant sections of the Information Technology Act. The police also said in its press release that Kanojia has not told them about his association with any news agency during interrogation.
