Begusarai (Bihar), Jul 14 (PTI) Noted journalist Ajit Anjum, whose YouTube channel is running a series on special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar, has been accused of “spreading communal tensions” in Begusarai district by the local administration.
Anjum denied the allegation and shared a screenshot of an FIR lodged against him.
The Begusarai collectorate has come out with a release against Anjum, who has roots in the district and has been reporting from various places over the past few days.
The release issued on Sunday takes exception to a “45 minutes 39 seconds long video” uploaded on the YouTube channel after Anjum and his camerapersons interviewed several persons in Ballia sub-division.
Anjum and his associates have been accused of “targeting members of a particular community” and going about their work in a manner that could “trigger communal tensions”.
The release said that Anjum and his team “shall be solely responsible for any unrest that erupts in Ballia sub-division as a result of their video feature”.
The release, however, does not speak of any legal action that may have been initiated against the journalist, who has taken up freelancing after heading several leading Hindi news channels.
Meanwhile, Anjum has himself shared on his X handle a screenshot of an FIR lodged against himself at the Ballia police station, based on a written complaint from a booth level officer (BLO).
The complainant Mohd Asrarul Haq, one of the BLOs for Sahibpur Kamal assembly segment, has alleged that while interacting with him, Anjum, “with a view to spreading communal hatred”, had tried to “falsely create an impression that Muslim voters in the area were being harassed”.
In his post on X, Anjum has denied the allegation and challenged the Election Commission to conduct a “factcheck” and prove wrong any of his reports.
He alleged that the NDA government had “made a Muslim BLO its pawn in its move against me”.
Officials in the local police and administration remain tight-lipped over the FIR, lodged under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyay Samhita and the Representation of People Act. PTI NAC NN
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