Fourth person arrested for allegedly defaming UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on social media

The Uttar Pradesh police has arrested fourth person for allegedly defaming Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on social media, according to reports. The man, a resident of Yogi Adityanath's home constituency Gorakhpur, has been arrested for allegedly trying to malign the Uttar Pradesh chief minister's image on Twitter. This was the fourth such arrest in less than a week.

Earlier, a freelance journalist was arrested for allegedly sharing an objectionable post against Yogi Adityanath on social media, triggering nation-wide condemnation of the police action. An FIR registered against Prashant Kanojia by sub-inspector Vikas Kumar at Hazratganj police station on Friday alleged that the accused made "objectionable comments against the CM and tried to malign his image".

Gorakhpur police officals posted the picture of arrested man on their Twitter handle.

Kanojia had shared a video on Twitter and Facebook where a woman is seen speaking to reporters of various media organisations outside the CM office claiming that she had sent a marriage proposal to the UP chief minsiter and that the two used to talk through "video conferencing".

Similarly, a private television news channel head and its editor were on Sunday remanded in 14-day judicial custody for allegedly broadcasting defamatory content against Adityanath. The arrested duo were Nation Live channel head Ishika Singh and editor Anuj Shukla.

"They were produced in a local court today (Sunday) which remanded them in 14-day judicial custody," Gautam Buddh Nagar Senior Superintendent of Police Vaibhav Krishna said.

During a debate on the Noida-based news channel on June 6, a woman had allegedly made defamatory statements against Adityanath, according to officials. The polilce alleged that during probe they also found that the channel did not have any requisite licence to operate.