J-K Police DGP vows stringent action against social media offenders disrespecting religious sentiments

JAMMU — Director General of Police (DGP) RR Swain on Thursday said that police have a zero-tolerance policy towards religious disrespect and that they will bring in a law to act stringently against social media offenders.

DGP Swain, as per the news agency KNS in a hurried-called press conference at Jammu said that under 144 CrPC, they will take strict action to cap the dissemination of sensitive content on social media platforms that hurts the religious sentiments of communities.

He said the police have taken strong cognizance of the NIT incident and in future, any such incident will also be dealt with sternly.

He was speaking on NIT Srinagar row where a non-local student had uploaded a derogatory video against Prophet Muhammad (SAW) on social media which led to wide criticism and outrage from the public. “J&K Police respects the dignity of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) undoubtedly. We can’t tolerate any disrespect in this regard. Also, we want to clarify that miscreants won’t be allowed to exploit the situation and take the law into their hands,” DGP Swain said.

He went on to state, “We have taken swift action against the person who made derogatory remarks against Prophet Mohammad (SAW) and will not tolerate such remarks against such a great personality. Such acts are beyond tolerance and with these acts, we will not let vitiate the peaceful atmosphere in J&K. As soon as we got this information, we took cognisance in no time and filed an FIR against the person.”

DGP appealed to students to concentrate on their studies and don’t indulge in such activities. “We also appeal to the people to help us to maintain law and order. We warn those elements who want to take advantage of these situations to derail peace in Jammu and Kashmir. Police as well as people in general need to be alert at this juncture,” he added.

“Regarding the use of social media, we also warn those elements who try to spread misinformation. In coming days, we are also going to launch an awareness campaign about this law so that people indulging in such activities refrain themselves and help us maintain the peaceful atmosphere prevailing in Jammu and Kashmir,” the DGP said.