Delhi BJP Leader Booked In Punjab For Sharing Kejriwal’s ‘Doctored’ Video

The police registered the FIR against Jindal, who heads the Delhi BJP’s media cell, on Thursday night on the basis of a complaint filed by a Punjab and Haryana High Court advocate.

New Delhi: An FIR has been registered against Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Naveen Kumar Jindal in Punjab’s Mohali for allegedly sharing on his Twitter handle a “doctored video clip” of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

The police registered the FIR against Jindal, who heads the Delhi BJP’s media cell, on Thursday night on the basis of a complaint filed by a Punjab and Haryana High Court advocate.

Gagandeep Singh, the SHO of Mohali’s Phase 11 police station, on Friday said the “complainant alleged that Jindal, on his Twitter handle, shared a cropped video from the original footage of an interview given by Arvind Kejriwal to a TV channel and doctored the original content”, PTI reported.

“The complainant said that some words of the Delhi Chief Minister from the original interview have been dropped,” he added.

An FIR has been registered under sections 465 (punishment for forgery), 471 (using as genuine a forged a document or electronic record), 500 (punishment for defamation), 505 (1) (b) (with intent to cause, or which is likely to cause, fear or alarm to the public) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Section 66 of the Information Technology Act, the police official said.

The video clip in question was posted earlier on April 6.

The “doctored” part of the video, as per the complainant, pertains to Kejriwal's comment on providing clean and transparent governance.

Commenting on the same, the BJP leader said that he had been “exposing” Kejriwal-led government in Delhi on various issues for the last two years.

“I exposed many of their corrupt practices...Feeling frustrated, they are getting false cases registered with an aim to cause harassment. A number of times, even Kejriwal makes satire on BJP leaders, but we do not register a case against him,” Jindal told the news agency in a telephonic conversation.

“But ever since the AAP has formed the government in Punjab, they think they can use Punjab Police against those who expose them,” he added.

Responding to a poser on whether the video in question was doctored, the BJP leader said the video carries a disclaimer that it is a “satire”.

“On the basis of that video, they got a police case registered against me, but they cannot browbeat me and I will continue to expose them on various issues,” he added.

This is the second case registered by the Punjab Police against a Delhi BJP leader after the AAP formed the government in the state.

The Punjab Police had earlier booked Delhi BJP spokesperson Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga, who had been taking potshots at Kejriwal over his remarks on the movie ‘The Kashmir Files’.

Bagga was charged with making provocative statements, promoting enmity and criminal intimidation. This came on a complaint filed against him by AAP leader Sunny Ahluwalia.

The FIR, which was registered earlier on April 1, referred to his remarks during the BJP youth wing’s protest outside Kejriwal’s residence.

Ahluwalia, a resident of Mohali, had in his complaint accused the BJP leader of making provocative, false and inflammatory statements to outrage religious feelings, promote disharmony and create feelings of enmity, hatred and ill-will.