• Abhijit Nath, NET Correspondent, Tripura

Agartala, November 06, 2021 : The vested interests of several political groups and individuals, with an intent to escalate communal riots across the state have led authorities to write a letter to Twitter urging for providing details on 68 users.

It further served notice to 34 Facebook users, in connection to spreading distorted information on attacks in Muslim minority institutions in Tripura.

Tripura police PRO Jyostishman Choudhury told Northeast Today on Saturday that the West Agartala police had lodged a complaint against 102 social media users based on the communal hatred spread through different social media platforms, after the communal  violence occurred in Bangladesh.

“Tripura police had listed out 102 accounts for spreading distorted news of communal hatred and disturbing the peace and tranquility across the state. These accounts are 68 of Twitter and 34 of Facebook” – asserted the PRO.

“Following the case lodged with West Agartala police station, Tripura police had sent a letter to the Twitter grievance officer on November 03 last mentioning the link of all 68 Twitter handles are to be blocked”, – he added.

“Under sections 153A, 153B, 469, 471, 503, 504 and 120B of Indian Penal Code and section 13 of Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, a case had been filed with West Agartala Police station on November 03 last mentioning the links of all 68 Twitter users” – asserted the Tripura police PRO.

The letter to the Twitter grievance officer, informed “It is to inform you that some persons/ organization are publishing/posting distorted and objectionable news items/statements in Twitter regarding the recent clash and alleged attack upon mosques of Muslim communities in the state. In publishing these news items/ posts, the persons/ organizations have been found using photographs/ videos of some other incidents, fabricated statements/commentary for promoting enmity between religious groups /communities in presence of a criminal conspiracy. The posts have potential to flare up communal tension in Tripura State between people different religious Communities, which may result into communal riots.”

Tripura police had urgently sought five details on the users in Twitter, involved with the case – The user registration details of the said Twitter account; Browsing logs details in respect of the aforementioned Twitter account from the date of registration to till date; A list of IP addresses where the user logged in to accounts; Mobile number added to the Twitter account, including verified mobile numbers added for security purposes; and list of lined accounts the user has linked into Twitter account.

Apart from Twitter, Choudhury asserted that 34 persons has been served with notices for using Facebook as medium to spread fake news and videos confusing people of different religions across the state.

It is significant to mention here that the propaganda of arson and vandalism in different mosques of Tripura has been circulated through social media. A section of anti-socials are creating fake videos and posting those on social media with an intent to spread communal tensions across the state, claims top police officials of the state.

After vandalizing Durga effigies and mandapas in Bangladesh, tensions erupted in the northeastern state of Tripura, with the community staging protests against such incessant attacks.