New Delhi: The Delhi Congress has filed a complaint against film director Ashoke Pandit, accusing him of spreading fake and distorted news about Rahul Gandhi.
In the complaint filed by the party on Thursday, it said that Pandit incited and provoked the public, thereby creating enmity between groups, and such offences are punishable under the IPC 1860 and other legal provisions.
In a now-deleted tweet, Pandit said, “Janaudhari Rahul Gandhi refusing to perform Aarti! The reason is clear!”
Delhi Congress hit out at Pandit saying that the tweet was accompanied by a maliciously distorted and clipped video of Rahul Gandhi.
“The said tweet was accompanied with a maliciously distorted and clipped video of Shri Rahul Gandhi wherein it was sought to portray Shri. Rahul Gandhi as refusing to partake in religious rituals being performed in Rajkot (Gujarat) while worshipping goddess Durga. It must be pointed out that the video was created by morphing (through deliberately editing) an older video in which Shri Rahul Gandhi was indeed offering prayers in direct contradiction to what was being portrayed by Ashok Pandit. 29/09/22,” the complaint read.
In a tweet on Friday, Congress spokesperson Jairam Ramesh said, “Last night, a police complaint was filed in Delhi against a totally fake video on Rahul Gandhi. The offender deleted his social media post after it was exposed, but he will face the law for his atrocious deed. We will not allow such people to get away lightly.”
The Delhi Congress in its complaint also said that the impression from the mischievously captioned post and accompanying distorted video clip was that Rahul Gandhi had refused to perform a sacred ritual during a religious ceremony and in doing so had offended the sentiments of other members of the Hindu community.
The party slammed Pandit saying that through his social media post, he tried to cast a doubt on the religious beliefs of a Member of Parliament despite being well aware of the actual fact.
“Ashoke Pandit through his social media post has published (and also circulated) a statement which tries to cast a doubt on the religious beliefs of a Member of Parliament despite being well aware of the correct facts. It is amply evident that Ashoke Pandit has published the statement with the knowledge that it was likely to foster feelings of outrage and hurt while simultaneously tarnishing the image of a Member of Parliament,” the complaint read.
“This was nothing short of a deliberate and motivated attempt to outrage religious sentiments of members of the Hindu community using deliberately falsified videos,” news agency IANS quoted Congress as saying.
(With IANS Inputs)