MP protem Speaker threatened online for opposing protest on French cartoons

The threats came after Rameshwar Sharma wrote on social media that protesters should have organised their protest in France as the cartoon issue is related to that country.

Police in Bhopal lodged a first information report (FIR) on Sunday against four persons for allegedly threatening protem Speaker in the Madhya Pradesh state assembly Rameshwar Sharma with dire consequences on social media, police said.

Four persons for allegedly threatening protem Speaker in the Madhya Pradesh state assembly Rameshwar Sharma with dire consequences on social media. (https://twitter.com/rameshwar4111)

The FIR was lodged on a complaint submitted to the state’s director general of police, Vivek Johri by director (security), MP state assembly JK Sharma after the alleged threat to the protem Speaker on his social media account when he posted a text on Sunday opposing the protest held in Bhopal on Thursday against French President Emmanuel Macron’s stand on a row over cartoons of Prophet Mohammed in that country.

The accused include A Khan, Muhammed Kaleem and Javed Akhtar whose addresses are not known and one unidentified person, the police said.

The complaint lodged by JK Sharma states, “Recently there was a demonstration by certain people in Bhopal against France in respect with which the protem Speaker wrote in social media that instead of creating an atmosphere of fear here while showing fundamentalism the protesters should have organised their protest in France as the issue is related to France. On this, some people threatened the protem Speaker with dire consequences while commenting that he would meet the same fate that Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Kamlesh Tiwari had met.”

DGP Johri could not be reached for his comments. He did not respond to phone calls and text messages in this regard.

Rameshwar Sharma said, “I received the threat on social media and the state assembly staff has submitted a complaint to the director general of police.”

Additional superintendent of police, crime branch, Gopal Dhakad said, “An FIR has been lodged. Now, we will look into the IP addresses of the accused who posted the comments and track them down.”