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Journalism of Courage
This is an archive article published on March 24, 2023
Journalist among 2 booked for ‘defaming’ Nagpur civic body on social media
Police say no arrest has been made in the cases of criminal defamation registered on Thursday.
Officials said the two were spreading misinformation due to which a formal police complaint was lodged and a case was registered at Sadar police station in Nagpur. (Representational)
A journalist and a social media influencer were booked on Thursday for allegedly defaming the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) with their posts and videos on social media.
In the first instance, Vinay Pande, a journalist, was booked for a social media post which was critical of the NMC’s decision to remove saplings that it had planted for beautifying the city during the G20 meetings. Using a meme which included a photo of NMC Commissioner Radhakrishnan B, the post stated that the NMC commissioner had played a prank on the residents of the city.
According to the police, Pande was booked for defaming Radhakrishnan B. “A journalist should not spread misinformation. We are fine with criticism but one should not go out with an agenda against an individual or an institution,” an NMC official said.
Pande, in his defence, said that his criticism was valid and the case against against him was akin to muzzling criticism of the administration.
“Criticism, if abusive, derogatory or aimed at intentionally demeaning a person or organisation, must be dealt sternly but a light hearted meme must not be be used to silence voices of journalists and also common citizens. This is nothing but muzzling down right to free speech. NMC is trying to deviate attention from real problems to petty issues,” Pande said.
In the second instance, social media influencer Ayush Nevatia was booked as well. Nevatia had criticised the civic body’s decision to name the recently unveiled statues of two boys on Walker’s street as ‘Chidimar Jodi (eve-teasing pair)’.
Nevatia shot a video criticising the NMC and posted it on social media. In the video, Nevatia said the title showed Nagpur youths in a bad light after which the NMC changed the name of the statues to ‘The boys’.
“The first title was given by the company with whom we partnered. However, after it came to our notice, the statues were re-labelled within 24 hours,” an NMC official said.
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“But Nevatia was still seen posting similar videos on social media to malign the corporation, due to which the decision was taken to register a case,” the official added.
“A case of criminal defamation has been registered against them but no one has been arrested so far,” police inspector Gokul Suryavanshi said.
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