Amit Shah Fake Video Case: Jharkhand Congress' X Handle Withheld After 'Legal Demand'

Microblogging site X (formerly Twitter) withheld the account of Jharkhand Congress on Wednesday in response to a legal demand after a ‘deepfake morphed video’ of Union Home Minister Amit Shah was posted on the handle, according to news agency ANI.

The action came after the Jharkhand Congress recently posted on X a deepfake video of Amit Shah that has prompted police action in several states.

“Amit Shah’s election speech went viral in which he said that if the BJP government is formed again, OBC and SC/ST reservation will be abolished,” the account had written while sharing the video earlier.

X did not immediately react to the development. But a visit to the Jharkhand Congress X account showed that the account has been withheld.

Earlier in the day, the special cell of Delhi police issued a notice to Jharkhand Congress president Rajesh Thakur asking him to appear before it on May 2 in connection with its investigation into the doctored video case.

“I received the notice from the Delhi Police on Tuesday. But, it is beyond my understanding why the notice was served to me. This is nothing but anarchy,” Thakur said on the summons issued to him.

“If there is any complaint, they should first verify the content on my X account. The election campaign is at its peak and my involvement in the campaign could be understood. In such a situation, they have sought my laptop and other electronic gadgets. Sending summons without verifying the things is not appropriate,” he added.

The Jharkhand BJP on Tuesday also lodged a police complaint against two people, alleging that they circulated the doctored video of Amit Shah.

The summonses were also issued to Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy and four Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) members– Shiva Kumar Ambala, Asma Tasleem, Satish Manne and Naveen Pettem– under sections 91 and 160 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).

The notices came after the Special Cell of Delhi Police had on Sunday registered an FIR after the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), which is under the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), filed a complaint about the doctored video of Shah where his statements indicating a commitment to abolish quota for Muslims on religious ground in Telangana were changed to make it seem that he was advocating scrapping of all reservations.

The speech was given on April 23, at the Vijaya Sankalp Sabha in Telangana. It is alleged that the video clip was shared by several Congress leaders.

Meanwhile, Assam Police also arrested one person in connection with the case on Monday. Accused Reetom Singh is the first person to be arrested in connection with the ‘doctored’ video case.

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