Overview
- Police in Kotdwar arrested Deepak Kumar, known locally as 'Mohammad' Deepak, on Thursday evening after businessman Sanjeev Tonk lodged a complaint accusing him of assault, abuse and threats over a Facebook comment.
- An FIR was first registered under BNS sections for criminal intimidation and insult, and investigators later added sections for promoting enmity and voluntarily causing hurt based on CCTV footage and photographs.
- Officers held Deepak preventively under Section 170 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita because the initial offences carry punishments below the threshold that normally allow arrest and police judged detention necessary to prevent a cognisable crime.
- Kotdwar authorities mounted visible security steps, including a flag march and increased patrols, and police plan to present Deepak before the sub-divisional magistrate as required by procedure.
- Deepak rose to local prominence in January after a viral video showed him confronting Hindu activists over the harassment of an elderly Muslim shopkeeper, and his large Facebook post about a partial mosque demolition in Ujjain helped draw the online comment that preceded the complaint.