Brinda Karat, member of the Polit Bureau of Communist Party of India (Marxist) has written the following letters to Shri Amit Shah, Minister for Home Affairs, Government of India and the Deputy Commissioner of Police on the videos circulating on YouTube and WhatsApp groups inciting communal hatred.
We are releasing the text of both the letters for publication.
(For CPI(M) Central Committee office)
________________________________________________________________
Text of the letter to Shri Amit Shah, Minister for Home Affairs, Government of India
Dear Shri Amit Shah ji,
Namaskar. I am writing to you in connection with a number of videos which are circulating on the youtube channel and whatsapp groups which are clearly designed to incite communal hatred, violence and acts of terror against one specific community by another community.
One of the videos incites “all Hindus” to enter houses of Muslims to teach them a lesson against so-called love jehad. Another video threatens those who do not say Jai Shri Ram will be send to the graveyard. Details are available in the following links:
https://www.facebook.com/218759978675625/posts/anti-muslim-song-released...
The videos and their circulation constitute criminal acts under the IPC, under the cyber laws and IT Act and also under the laws against acts of terror. There is no doubt that by allowing circulation of such anti-national material on their channel, the owners/controlling authorizers of youtube channel are also guilty.
Since youtube has a worldwide reach, such communal hate and highly provocative videos emanating from India seriously damage India’s image across the world and could have dangerous consequences.
As Home Minister, you have the responsibility to ensure the security and wellbeing of all of our citizens and to take strong action against those who seek to destroy that security and unity of all Indians. I enclose the letter I and my colleague have written to the Delhi police requesting them to take necessary action of filing FIRs etc. The issues we have highlighted for action are :
(1) File an FIR, arrest and take immediate action against the individuals who have spoken these words thus committing a crime under various sections of law mentioned above.
(2) Take immediate action against the company Janta Music named in the video
(3) File an FIR and take appropriate action against youtube for abetment to the crime by permitting circulation of the said videos on their channel.
(4) Send a takedown notice to youtube to remove the video and stop the circulation of the offensive material.
With regards,
Yours sincerely
Sd/-
(Brinda Karat)
***
Text of the letter to Deputy Commissioner of Police
Dear Shri Mandeep Singh,
Further to my discussion with you on the telephone, this is to draw your attention to videos, in Hindi, circulating on youtube which are a clear incitement to communal hatred and violence and also to terrorist acts. We give below the links to the videos.
https://www.facebook.com/218759978675625/posts/anti-muslim-song-released...
In one video the theme is “Those who do not shout Jai Shree Ram Send them to the graveyard”. The other is on so-called Love Jehad in which a person who identifies himself as Sandeep Acharya incites “Hindus to unite” and enter houses of Muslims to teach them a lesson on Love Jehad. In the video it is claimed that the company responsible for the videos is called Janta Music.
These videos are highly offensive, menacing, threatening and incite violence against a specific community by another community.
The videos are crimes under Section 153A /505 (1) and (2) of the IPC. They also constitute a crime under the relevant provisions of the IT Act. They should also be seen as incitement to commit acts of terror against a specified target.
The owners/controlling authorities of youtube channel are also responsible for allowing such videos to freely circulate. Since youtube has an international reach, such videos do immense damage to India’s image and national interest apart from having dangerous consequences.
This is to request you to immediately
(5) file an FIR, arrest and take immediate action against the individuals who have spoken these words thus committing a crime under various sections of law mentioned above
(6) take action against the company Janta Music named in the video
(7) file an FIR and take appropriate action against youtube for abetment to the crime by permitting circulation of the said videos on their channel
(8) send a takedown notice to youtube to remove the video and stop it’s circulation.
Yours sincerely
Sd/-
(Brinda Karat)
Sd/-
(K.M.Tewari)
Secretary, Delhi State Committee, CPI(M)