New Delhi: The West Bengal Police has registered a case against Maktoob Media following a social media post on Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Mahua Moitra’s allegations that Muslim IPS officers were kept out of meetings during Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s visit to the state.
Even as the police have denied the report, there has been no official response to Moitra’s allegations, said Maktoob on Thursday, September 24.
The MP flagged the alleged exclusion on her social media, which was subsequently reported in the media.
Dear @NCM_GoI have sent representation about deliberate exclusion of Muslim IPS & IAS officers on at least 3 of Amit Shah’s official meetings in Bengal. Please conduct immediate enquiry & take action. Tax payers including Muslims pay your salary. (1/4) pic.twitter.com/ZEjWpSCp9F
According to Maktoob, they learnt about the first information report (FIR) against them when X communicated the same. They reported that the police sought login and Android device details for @MaktoobMedia.
The FIR, it said, was registered at the Bidhannagar Cyber Crime Police Station on September 19, identifying a Maktoob post on X and on its YouTube channel over the alleged exclusion of senior Muslim IPS officers from Shah’s meetings in West Bengal.
According to the FIR, the complainant alleged that the posts contained “objectionable graphical content” and remarks that could promote enmity and disturb public tranquillity.
The case has been registered under Sections 196(1) (promoting disharmony, hatred), 299 (punishment for malicious acts), 353(1)(b) (penalises circulating false rumours), 353(1)(c) (penalises circulating false information to promote hatred), 353(2) (false statements to foster enmity) and 356(2) (criminal defamation) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
The FIR has not named any Maktoob journalist or editor.
In their letter to X, the police describe Maktoob’s post as “entirely fabricated” and “malicious”, and seek login information for February 1 to 5, a period long before the said reports.
On September 19, Meta also removed a graphic carousel that included Moitra’s allegations from Instagram in India.
The FIR also comes as Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra has formally raised the alleged exclusion of Muslim officers.
In a complaint submitted to the National Commission for Minorities on September 18, Moitra alleged religious discrimination against senior Muslim IAS and IPS officers during Shah’s visits to West Bengal.
Taking cognisance, the National Commission for Minorities wrote to the West Bengal government on September 21, seeking a report within 10 days.
During Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s visits to West Bengal, three senior state police and administrative officials were allegedly excluded from key high-level security meetings. Mahua Moitra highlighted that all three officers are Muslim, claiming this was the “common thread” behind their exclusion despite their roles being directly relevant to the discussions.
The alleged incidents occurred across multiple visits. On July 18, at a Siliguri Border Security Meeting, Siliguri Police Commissioner Syed Waqar Raza was reportedly asked to leave a border security review meeting attended by roughly 18 SPs and DMs. Furthermore, Raza’s name was allegedly removed from the official visit protocol, and he was replaced by North Bengal IGP Sukesh Jain in the farewell lineup.
Additionally, Jawed Shamim (then DGP of the West Bengal STF) was allegedly barred from attending, with the STF represented instead by its Inspector General, Gaurav Sharma.
Then, on July 19, she alleged, at a Kolkata meeting focused on disaster preparedness and law and order, Khalil Ahmed—the senior-most officer of the Fire and Emergency Services Department—was asked to leave. Jawed Shamim was also reportedly excluded from this meeting, with Gaurav Sharma representing the STF.
During Shah’s second visit in August, Moitra claimed this pattern repeated. Raza was left out of the Siliguri border security review, while Shamim was barred from an official exhibition regarding new criminal laws, leaving Sharma to represent the STF yet again.
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