The Mumbai police have arrested three people from Haryana in connection with a chat on the Clubhouse app, in which obscene comments were allegedly made against Muslim women, an official said on Friday, January 21. Personnel of the cyber police station of the Mumbai crime branch made the arrests late on Thursday, January 20, he said. Two of the accused will be produced in a local court later on Friday, the official said.
While the police are yet to release further information, according to reports, those arrested are said to be aged 19, 21 and 22 years. Two of them were reported to be college students, while one was an intermediate graduate.
In a tweet posted early this morning, Shiv Sena's Rajya Sabha member Priyanka Chaturvedi praised the city police for the arrests in the case. "Kudos @MumbaiPolice, they have got cracking on the Clubhouse chats too and some arrests have been made. Say no to hate. #Clubhouse (sic)," she said in the tweet.
Kudos @MumbaiPolice , they have got cracking on the Clubhouse chats too and some arrests have been made. Say no to hate. #Clubhouse
— Priyanka Chaturvedi (@priyankac19) January 21, 2022
A Mumbai-based organisation had lodged a complaint with the city police on Wednesday in connection with the Clubhouse app, seeking its deactivation, and also registration of a case, the official said.
On Wednesday, the Delhi police had written to Clubhouse as well as Google, seeking details about the organiser of the alleged audio group chat in which "obscene comments were made against Muslim women". Official sources told PTI that the police had also identified some members of the group audio chat, which included men and women, as part of the investigation.
The Delhi police had also registered an FIR under sections 153A (Promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony), 295A (Deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) and 354A (Assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) of the Indian Penal Code, DCP (IFSO) KPS Malhotra told IANS.
Earlier, the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) had issued a notice to the Cyber Cell of the Delhi Police demanding punitive action against the accused. DCW chief Swati Maliwal said, "Strongest action needs to be taken against the culprits and that's why I have issued a notice to Delhi Police seeking immediate FIR and arrests in the matter."
With IANS and PTI inputs