Fake news on Anjali Birla, Dhruv Rathee parody account user summoned

The Maharashtra Police's Cyber wing on Friday summoned an X user and seven others over false news about Anjali Birla, daughter of Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla.

The development came after defamatory remarks and false news about Anjali, an Indian Railway Personal Service (IRPS), were posted from a parody account in the name of 'Dhruv Rathee'. The remarks alleged Birla had cleared the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) exam without appearing for it.

The post was reposted by several others, prompting Anajali Birla's legal team to lodge a complaint with Maharashtra Police's Cyber Wing. A case in this regard was registered under the relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and the Information Technology Act for defamation, intentional insult, breach of peace and mischief.

Yashasvi Yadav, Special IG, Maharashtra Cyber Department, said, “The tweets against Anjali Birla are defamatory in nature. We summoned the person and made him delete the comments. Additionally, criminal liability was placed on him. We have also sent summons to operators of another nine accounts to record their statements. Also, the parody account has been ordered to shut down. I would urge all to act responsibly while putting out their views on social media.”

Meanwhile, the parody account owner, in a post on X, said, "As directed by @MahaCyber1, I have deleted all my posts and comments on Anjali Birla, I would like to apologise as I was unaware of the facts and copied someone else's tweets and shared it."

On Tuesday, the Delhi High Court directed X Corp and Google Inc. to take down alleged objectionable posts against Anjali and restrained unknown parties from posting or forwarding the defamatory content, in response to a defamation suit filed by the plaintiff.

Earlier this month, the cyber police had filed a case against popular Dhruv Rathee in the matter. Agitated by the news of him being booked by the police, Dhruv Rathee lambasted a media house for dragging his name without checking the facts. "Go use your eyes to see that this alleged post was made by some random parody Twitter (X) account. I have nothing to do with this", he said.