Guwahati, June 9: Assam Congress leader Debabrata Saikia today filed a complaint with the cyber crime unit of the CID against the “rise” of derogatory and obscene comments on social media platforms.

The complaint was based on a Facebook post, made from a profile of someone using the name Debojit Roy, in a group called Janmot (Vox Populi). The post contained derogatory remarks on Vaishnavite saint Srimanta Xankardev.

“We’ve been seeing quite a lot of derogatory remarks targeting a particular community or person or religion or ideology being made on social media over the past few days. Even several members of the Congress were being targeted and mocked, but we’ve remained quiet. But now that the Mahapurush (Srimanta Xankardev) with whose name we Assamese identify ourselves on international platforms has been made fun of, we chose to take steps. Otherwise, our entire identity will be at risk tomorrow,” Saikia told reporters here today. He also submitted a copy of a screenshot of the post along with the complaint.

Saikia, with other Congress legislators Abdul Khaleque, Nandita Das and Zakir Hussain Sikdar, submitted the complaint to additional director-general of police (CID) A.K. Jha.

“Social media has become the BJP’s Frankenstein. They abused the social media platforms to the fullest and succeeded in wooing voters. But the abuses still continue. The miscreants and radical thinkers are now using these platforms to spread hate,” Saikia alleged.

He said hateful messages on social media were responsible for the “riot-like situation” that prevailed in Silchar over a marriage recently.

Avishek Sengupta The Telegraph