The Hyderabad Begum Bazar police have registered an FIR against Ratan Ranjan and other social media users for allegedly posting and spreading a morphed image of Congress MP and Opposition Leader Rahul Gandhi on social media.
This FIR was filed based on a complaint by Telangana Youth Congress President Jakkidi Shiva Charan Reddy. He alleged that the posts were spreading obscene and defamatory content, aiming to insult the dignity of women and defame Congress leaders.
According to the FIR, the alleged incident of morphing took place on July 5, when Ratan Ranjan allegedly posted a morphed image of Rahul Gandhi on social media. The picture allegedly showed the face of the Congress leader on sanitary pads distributed under an awareness campaign organized by the Women's Congress in Bihar.
The Congress's sanitary pad distribution campaign was initiated to promote hygiene and dignity among women in rural areas.
The FIR mentions that the posts also included offensive captions. The complaint stated that these posts aimed to insult the dignity of women across India and diminish the importance of women's health issues.
The complaint named other X users, such as @ArunKosil, @MrSinha, @AdvSunilSharma_, @Siddharth_00001, and @sanjaynirupam, who allegedly shared or promoted similar content. A tweet by @ArunKosil mentioned the same morphed image and similar derogatory remarks.
FIR registered under various sections of BNS
Following the complaint, the Begum Bazar police filed a case under sections 79, 192, 196, 197, 294, 353, 356 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS 2023) and section 67 of the IT Act, 2000, which relates to the publication or transmission of obscene material in electronic form. Inspector P. Bharat Kumar of the Begum Bazar Police Station stated that the investigation has been assigned to Inspector Kodala Yedukondalu.
FIR lodged in Bengaluru as well
An FIR was also filed concerning the same case in Bengaluru. Congress leader Supriya Shrinate provided this information on X, sharing a copy of the FIR and stating that a case has been filed against the misuse of Rahul Gandhi's image in a fake video, with further actions being taken against others.
The Background
The Women's Congress in Bihar initiated a special campaign to distribute sanitary pads to 500,000 women for free. The campaign featured Congress leaders' images on the packets, along with slogans like "Women’s Justice" and "Women’s Dignity." Fake images and videos linking to this campaign prompted a response from the Congress.
