Kolhapur violence: Three school students named in FIR, sent to juvenile home

Police have invoked IPC sections 295 A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage reli­gious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or reli­gious belief), 505 (2) (statements creating or promoting enmity, hatred or ill-will between classes) and 35 (when such an act is criminal by reason of its being done with a criminal knowledge or intention).

Of the three juveniles, two reside in the same locality in Kolhapur and know each other.

On June 5, the three were said to have shared a reel on Instagram with photos of Aurangazeb and Tipu Sultan. Someone who spotted it tipped off members of right wing groups.

A few hours later, the names of these juveniles, along with the content that they had posted, were circulated in various WhatsApp groups.

“We came to know from one such message that his post had caused so much trouble. We immediately made him delete the message and his Instagram account,” the uncle of one of the detained juveniles said.

On June 6, police showed up at the house and took him away. “Even the police were shocked to find out that they were so young. They took him away and we have not been able to meet him since,” the uncle said.

The families of the other juveniles have locked their homes and moved to an undisclosed location. Police are investigating if there was a larger conspiracy at play.

Kolhapur Superintendent of Police Mahendra Pandit told a press conference: “Their phones have been seized and are being analysed. As per preliminary information provided by them, they had copied each other’s social media status and used it in their accounts. The initial probe also hints at videos being downloaded from the Internet.”

The SP also said the youth sensed trouble as they had deleted their social media accounts around the time some persons approached police regarding the video.

“We are trying to retrieve the app and data to find out where they got the videos from. As of now, we cannot say whether they were provoked. We are also investigating some social media accounts that are trying to set a particular narrative. Details like who these belong to, when they were created, mobile numbers they are associated with are being ascertained,” Pandit said.