Skip to main content

Gujarat police urged to act on alleged threats, communal incitement circulated online

By A Representative
 
The Minority Coordination Committee Gujarat has submitted a formal complaint to the Director General of Police, Gujarat, seeking the registration of an FIR and urgent preventive action over an alleged social media post that it claims contains public threats, incitement to violence, and the spread of communal hatred.
In its representation, the organisation stated that a video uploaded on a social media account identified as “vhpgujarat_”, associated with the Vishva Hindu Parishad Gujarat, shows representatives and activists of the Vishva Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal allegedly issuing open threats of violence against members of a particular religious community. 
According to the complaint, the video uses explicit language, including threats of physical harm, and gives an ultimatum of 24 hours to the local administration, warning that the organisation would “take action” if authorities failed to act. The committee has alleged that this amounts to a direct call to take the law into one’s own hands and a challenge to the established law and order machinery.
The Minority Coordination Committee said that the circulation of the video has created an atmosphere of fear among members of the Muslim community in Vijaynagar and surrounding areas, raising concerns about the possibility of communal violence and a deterioration of public order. It has argued that issuing public threats and ultimatums to the administration by private organisations or individuals is unlawful and poses a serious challenge to the state’s law and order system.
In the complaint, the organisation has cited provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, including sections related to promoting enmity on religious grounds, criminal intimidation, serious threats, and statements likely to disturb public peace, along with other relevant sections. It has also referred to Supreme Court directions in the Shaheen Abdulla v. Union of India case, which call for suo motu action by authorities to curb hate speech.
The committee has requested that an FIR be registered immediately against those responsible for uploading the post and for the individuals seen and heard in the video, that their identities be established and they be detained and questioned, and that the allegedly unlawful and violence-inciting content be removed from social media platforms. It has further sought the deployment of additional police force as a precautionary measure to prevent any potential violence and maintain public order.
The representation, dated January 22, 2026, has been signed by Mujahid Nafees, Convener of the Minority Coordination Committee Gujarat, and copies have also been forwarded to the Superintendent of Police, Himmatnagar, Sabarkantha. The organisation has urged the police to take prompt and impartial action to ensure that law and order is preserved.

Comments

TRENDING

When democracy becomes a performance: The Tibetan exile experience

By Tseten Lhundup*  I was born in Bylakuppe, one of the largest Tibetan settlements in southern India. From childhood, I grew up in simple barracks, along muddy roads, and in fields with limited resources. Over the years, I have watched our democratic system slowly erode. Observing the recent budget session of the 17th Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile, these “democratic procedures” appear grand and orderly on the surface, yet in reality they amount to little more than empty formalities. The parliamentarians seem largely disconnected from the everyday struggles faced by ordinary exiled Tibetans like us.

Fair prices, fresh produce: Vegetable market opens in Rajasthan tribal village

By Vikas Meshram*  On 18 March 2026, the tribal village of Sajjangarh in southern Rajasthan witnessed the grand and dignified inauguration of a new vegetable market (mandi). Established through the tireless joint efforts of the Krushi Avam Adivasi Swaraj Sangathan (Bhilkuaan) and Vaagdhara, under the active leadership of the Gram Panchayat of Sajjangarh, the market is being hailed as a cornerstone for local self-governance, self-reliance, and a sustainable rural economy. 

Study links sanctions to 500,000 deaths annually leading to rise in global backlash

By Bharat Dogra  International opinion is increasingly turning against the expanding burden of sanctions imposed on a growing number of countries. These measures are contributing to humanitarian crises, intensifying domestic discord, and heightening international tensions, thereby increasing the risks of conflicts and wars. 

Ex-IAS Atanu Chakraborty and a tale of two different Gujarat vision documents

By Rajiv Shah  The likely appointment of Atanu Chakraborty as HDFC Bank chairman interested me for several reasons, but above all because I have interacted with him closely during my more than 14 year stint in Gandhinagar for the “Times of India”. One of the few decent Gujarat cadre bureaucrats, Chakraborty, belonging to the 1985 IAS batch, at least till I covered Sachivalaya was surely above controversies. He loved to remain faceless, never desired publicity, was professional to the core, and never indulged in loose talk. When he neared retirement, which happened in April 2020, first there were rumours in Sachivalaya that he would be appointed SEBI chairman, and then there was talk he would be chairman (or was it CEO?) of Gujarat International Finance Tec (GIFT) City (a dream project of Narendra Modi as Gujarat chief minister, which as Prime Minister Modi wants to promote, come what may). But, for some strange reasons, and I don’t know why, none of this happened, despite the fact...

Weaponised bravery, institutionalised cowardice as the engine of authoritarianism

By Bhabani Shankar Nayak*  The insidious politics of crony capitalism is accelerating at an unprecedented pace, aided by the reckless expansion of artificial intelligence and other technologies designed not to liberate but to dominate, domesticate, and dehumanise societies. Alongside this, an illiberal politics of cowardice is emerging—serving as an accomplice to dehumanisation amid growing imperialist wars and conflicts across the world. Death in distant lands no longer stirs conscience. The push-button culture of digital screens has transformed social media into a disconnected, individualised, Hobbesian space, where the puritan pursuit of self-interest is elevated as the essence of human existence.  

Moon missions and manholes: Development's drumbeat drowns out deaths in sewers

By Vikas Meshram*  We proudly narrate the story of our nation’s progress. On every platform, we speak of the success of Chandrayaan , Digital India , and our rapidly growing economy. But behind this radiant picture lies a darkness—the world of sanitation workers who descend into sewers, risking their lives. This darkness is not confined to the drains alone; it runs deep within the conscience of our society.

Witnessing Iran beyond propaganda: Truth, war, and the path beyond western paradigm

By Naile Manjarrés  On June 23, 2025—marked as the 2nd of Tir, 1404, on the Persian calendar—a ceasefire between Iran and Israel was announced. This "night of the decree" shifted the trajectory of global affairs; although the world may appear unchanged on the surface, we have yet to fully grasp its impact.

​Best left-handed cricket XI of all-time: Could it beat an all-time right-hander XI?

By Harsh Thakor*  ​This is my all-time left-handers Test XI. It could arguably give an all-time right-handers XI a strong run for its money, boasting the likes of Garry Sobers, Brian Lara, Wasim Akram, and Adam Gilchrist.

Dhurandhar: The Revenge — Blurring the line between fiction and political narrative

By Mohd. Ziyaullah Khan*  "Dhurandhar: The Revenge" does not wait to be remembered; it arrives almost on the heels of its predecessor, released on March 19, 2026, just months after the first film’s December 2025 debut. The speed of its arrival feels less like creative urgency and more like calculated timing—cinema responding not to storytelling rhythm but to the emotional climate of its audience. Director Aditya Dhar, along with actor Yami Gautam, appears acutely aware of this moment and how to harness it.