Four held in Tripura for social media posts relating to Pahalgam terror attack

Police arrested four people including two retired teachers in the past 24 hours from Tripura’s three districts for making controversial posts on social media relating to the Pahalgam terror attack, officials said on Saturday.

A police official said that a retired teacher Jawahar Debnath and a student leader Kuldip Mandal were arrested from Ambassa in Dhalai district while another retired teacher Sajal Chakraborty was arrested from Dharmanagar in north Tripura district.

A youth identified as Jahirul Islam was also arrested from Sonamura in Sepahijala district.

The official said that the four people were arrested under various Sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and Information Technology Act.

Seeking their police custody, all the four arrested people would be produced in courts in their respective subdivisions, the official said.

While, out of four arrest Jahirul Islam, on Saturday  released and he will be under surveillance and supervision for six months as per new BNS law.

Leader of Opposition (LoP) Jitendra Chaudhury, who is also the CPI-M politburo member, said that retired teacher Jawahar Debnath and a student leader Kuldip Mandal did not make any anti-national comments on the social media, they made their posts highlighting national integration.

Tripura police in a post on its X handle said that it had come to their notice that certain individuals were circulating provocative and misleading messages on social media.

“Please be aware that forwarding, sharing, or creating such content is an offence under the law. Stringent legal action will be taken against those involved in such activity,” the police said.

The police also urged everyone not to pay attention to or forward any provocative and misleading message.

“We request all citizens to stay alert and report any such unlawful activity to the police immediately,” the appeal said.

Meanwhile, Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha on Friday directed the Superintendents of Police (SPs) of all eight districts to regularly share necessary inputs with the Chief Minister’s Secretariat regarding the presence of any Pakistani nationals in the state, officials said.

An official of the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) said that the Chief Minister also asked the District Magistrates (DMs) of all eight districts to maintain constant vigilance and promptly alert the administration about any such matters in view of a terrorist attack at Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir.

The directives were issued during a high-level video conference held at the state secretariat, where the Chief Minister reviewed the state's law and order situation, developmental initiatives, and preparedness ahead of the upcoming Monsoon season.