Fourteen people were arrested from across 11 districts in Assam for allegedly posting content "supporting Taliban" on social media, police said on Saturday, 21 August, reported news agency PTI.
The individuals were arrested on Friday and were booked under various sections of the IT Act, the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), a senior police officer told PTI.
“We were on alert and monitoring social media for inflammatory posts,” the officer said.
Taking to Twitter, Deputy Inspector General Violet Baruah said that Assam Police would take "stern legal action" against those voicing support for the Taliban's actions in Afghanistan and would register criminal cases against them.
According to an NDTV report, at least 17 social media profiles were found with posts support Taliban and the militant group's actions in Afghanistan, following their takeover. The 14 arrested in connection to the posts included one MBBS student from Hailakandi.
A senior police officer told NDTV that some posts directly supported the Taliban, while others "criticised India and the national media for not supporting Taliban", adding that such posts could potentially create communal tensions.
Police officials said that the posts were made from 11 districts inside the state and three profiles of people from Assam were from Dubai, Saudi Arabia, and Mumbai.
(With inputs from PTI and NDTV.)
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