Following UP Court's Order Police Registers FIR Over Alleged Defamatory Facebook Post Against Akhilesh Yadav

Following a Uttar Pradesh Court's order, the Uttar Pradesh Police has filed a First Information Report (FIR) under various sections of IPC & IT Act in a case related to an alleged defamatory Facebook post against Samajwadi Party's Chief and Ex UP CM, Akhilesh Yadav.

Hearing a 156 (3) CrPC Appliction, a Court in Kannauj, Uttar Pradesh on November 18 directed UP Police to register an FIR in the matter, however, the Court did direct the police to filed the FIR against unnamed persons and to get the investigation done as per the Law.

Interetingly, the UP Police made Co-founder and CEO of Meta Platforms (formerly Facebook, Inc.), Mark Zuckerberg as an accused in the FIR, however, as per media reports, his name has now been dropped.

Essentially, an application under 156 (3) CrPC had been moved in the Court of Chief Judicial Magistrate, Kannauj by one Amit Kumar Yadav alleging that a facebook page named 'Bua-Babua' is making indecent and defamatory remarks agaisnt National President of Samajwadi Party, due to which his image is being tarnished.

Therefore, a request had been made to register a case in the matter. The applicant had impleaded the admin of the Facebook page as respondent party, among others. In this regard, the court asked the applicant to provide the details of the posts, but the said details were not made available by him.

In view of the documents submitted by the applicant, the Court noted that abusive language had been used in relation to the leaders of the Samajwadi Party on the Facebook page, due to which, the Court observed, prima facie the cognizable offense is shown.

However, due to non-availability of the summoned details by the applicant, the Court was of the opinion that no solid basis was available regarding involvement of the respondent parties, therefore, the Court directed for the registration of the FIR against unnamed persons.

Click Here To Read/Download the order