Journalist Prashant Kanojia Arrested by UP Police For ‘Fake Tweet’

An FIR against Kanojia in Hazratganj police station accused him of morphing a tweet on Ram Mandir to spread hatred.

Prashant Kanojia’s release by the Supreme Court could play an important role in future cases.

(Photo: Kamran Akhter/The Quint)

Journalist Prashant Kanojia was picked up by Uttar Pradesh police from his Delhi house on Tuesday, 18 August for allegedly posting a morphed tweet related to Ram Mandir in Ayodhya. This is the third time UP Police has registered a FIR against Kanojia in connection with a social media post.

Kanojia’s wife and journalist Jagisha Arora told The Quint, “Some men who claimed to be from UP police came to our residence at around 1 PM and arrested Kanojia. Most of the men were not in uniform except one or two. They took him to Vasant Vihar police station and said he will be produced in some court for transit remand and then taken to Lucknow thereafter. The police said it is in connection with some tweet.”

An FIR registered at the Hazratganj Police station alleged that Kanojia “tweeted a morphed photo of a social media post made by Hindu Army leader Sushil Tiwari to spread hatred.”

The FIR added several sections including Section 153A, 153 B, 420, 465, 468, 469 of the Indian Penal Code.

The Facebook post by Tiwari demanded that Vedic studies should immediately replace Islamic studies in UPSC.

However, in the photo tweeted by Kanojia, the image and background looked the same but the text read: “No Shudra, SC, ST or OBCs will be allowed inside Ram Mandir.” Kanojia tweeted with the caption: “According to Tiwari’s orders.”

The Quint could not find the tweet on his profile on 18 August but social media users shared a screenshot of the tweet allegedly posted on 16 August. Here is an archived version of the tweet.

In 2019, Kanojia was arrested for sharing a video of a woman who claimed that she had been video-calling chief minister Yogi Adityanath and that she wanted to marry him. Kanojia, a former reporter at The Wire, was arrested in April for “objectionable tweets” against PM Narendra Modi and CM Adityanath.