Man held for posting pro-Pakistan comments on Facebook from neighbour's account

A man was arrested in Assam for posting communally sensitive comments on Facebook from his neighbour's account without his knowledge or consent.  The anti-India comments were posted by the neighbour to spite him.

As per a report from Hindustan Times, comments praising Pakistan and derogatory remarks about Assamese and Hindus were posted on poultry shop owner Ahedul Ali's Facebook page.

As a result, the tension was high on Sunday night in Sorbhog town in Barpeta district which is 145 km west of Guwahati.

The matter soon escalated to such an extent that some people burned down Ali's shop due to the nature of the comments. Fortunately, police force arrived at the right time and detained Ali. Violet Baruah, superintendent of police, Barpeta, said, "The nature of the comments led some people to burn down Ali’s shop. Police swung into action swiftly and detained Ali.”

However, on further investigation, Ali revealed that he was not tech savvy and he had no idea about any such offensive posts and comments being posted from his Facebook handle.

He denied posting any derogatory remarks from his account. Further investigation by police about the IP address from where the comments were posted led them to Jyotish Nath, a footwear shop owner whose shop was in close proximity to Ali's poultry shop.

On questioning, Nath revealed that he had opened Ali's Facebook account a few months ago and that he was aware of Ali's login id and password.

Baruah said that "Nath said he had enmity with Ali over money and other personal issues. On Sunday, he accessed Ali’s account and posted the comments to target him,".

On further inquiry, it was revealed that neither Nath nor Ali had any direct connection to politics, thus ruling out any political interference. Police have now booked Nath under sections of IT Act and IPC for an activity causing communal discomfort and identity theft.