On June 14, CJP filed a complaint with the National Commission for Minorities (NCM) against serial hate offender Deepak Sharma, after he made derogatory statements against ‘Allah’ in an audio chat room on a social audio app called ‘Clubhouse’.
In a screen recording of the audio chat room organised by Deepak Sharma titled Mahadev ko gaali India mein legal, (Translation: Verbally abusing Mahadev is legal in India) he can be heard making a series of extremely crude and derogatory comments about the anatomy and biology of Allah (the word used for God in Islam), which cannot be repeated in print.
The complaint brought to the Commission’s attention how Deepak Sharma has been misusing social media platforms to build up a following, when actually his credentials are deeply suspect and questionable. Sometime ago, CJP had explained in a video how he has misused Facebook as a platform. The video may be viewed here:
It noteworthy that his ‘main’ Twitter account @TheDeepak2020 was suspended because of mass reporting previously. He had then logged in from his alternate account @TheDeepak2020In (set up in 2020) and complained on video to his followers to help him reach his “voice to the Twitter CEO.” However, even this account has been suspended by Twitter for ‘violating its rules’.
Deepak Sharma’s suspended Twitter account:
Another shocking incident brought to light by the complaint was the manner in which Uttar Pradesh police have been obliging several of Deepak Sharma’s ‘requests’ and filing First Information Reports (FIR) against social media users for allegedly joking about “Shivling”, a symbol holy to Hindus. These jokes started after a “Shivling” was allegedly found in the compound of Gyanvapi mosque, though mosqe authorities say that it was part of an old and defunct fountain. It is this “Shivling” vs fountain narrative that spawned a series of jokes on Twitter, and Sharma took it upon himself to report people to posted such jokes. In a series of tweets, Sharma retweeted or posted screengrabs, identifying and ‘reporting’ people to the police, and giving the cops instructions on what to do. He would then celebrate his ‘wins’ as the police would register FIRs against those he had identified, especially if the social media user was a Muslim.
For the same reason, his main Twitter account @TheDeepak2020 was suspended because of mass reporting, but he continued with his threats from his alternate account (set up in 2020).
What’s inexplicable is why, with these obviously criminal antecedents and background, the UP police are allowing him to instigate criminal complaints. The complaint expressed its concern that the police authorities reacted with exceptional urgency to Sharma’s complaints against a few jokes, whereas no action had been taken against Deepak Sharma himself for committing grave human rights violations and aggravated form of insult to religion with malicious intention of outraging the religious feelings of Muslim minorities.
Although his tweets are unavailable now as his account was suspended for the second time, CJP has, in the letter to the NCM, expressed concern over the fact that there is no stopping him from making another account and continuing with his practice of selectively targeting the members belonging to the Muslim minority as there is hardly any precedent for anyone in India from being prosecuted for misogynistic or hate speech. The complaint has stated that even if one handle is banned by a platform, it is easy to set up another account using another anonymous handle. The fact that he has had such a wide reach despite his content, that incidentally violates Twitter’s community guidelines, means he has been able to thrive, more accounts have been allowed to mushroom.
Here is an example of one such tweet by Deepak Sharma:
The Complaint claimed that posting jokes or memes on social media cannot be a ground for arresting anyone. It argues that this kind of a pick and choose method undertaken by the UP police to arrest someone only to the whims and fancies of a hate offender and extreme right-wing leader such as Deepak Sharma, who brazenly boasts about his own far right ideology and repeatedly makes hate speech, is fundamentally wrong and against the law.
CJP also brought these recent acts to the notice of Director General of Police (DGP), Uttar Pradesh, Dr. Devendra Singh Chauhan. The complaint to DGP may be read here:
The complaint highlighted how Deepak Sharma confidently claims that he will ensure that these social media users are charged with IPC Sections and Section 66A of the Information Technology Act, 2000 which has been struck down by the Supreme Court as unconstitutional on grounds of violating the freedom of speech guaranteed under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution of India
The complaint has cited the case of Mahendra Singh Dhoni vs. Yerraguntla Shyamsundar and Anr (2017) 7 SCC 760 where the Supreme Court held, “It is clear as crystal that Section 295-A does not stipulate everything to be penalised and any and every act would tantamount to insult or attempt to insult the religion or the religious beliefs of a class of citizens. It penalises only those acts of insults to or those varieties of attempts to insult the religion or religious belief of a class of citizens which are perpetrated with the deliberate and malicious intention of outraging the religious feelings of that class of citizens. Insults to religion offered unwittingly or carelessly or without any deliberate or malicious intention to outrage the religious feelings of that class do not come within the section. The Constitution Bench has further clarified that the said provision only punishes the aggravated form of insult to religion when it is perpetrated with the deliberate and malicious intention of outraging the religious feelings of that class. Emphasis has been laid on the calculated tendency of the said aggravated form of insult and also to disrupt the public order to invite the penalty.”
The complaint has demonstrated Deepak Sharma’s past conduct in detail. CJP was one of the first to flag his profile to National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on December 27, 2018 and had detailed how Facebook helped news and media channels to team up with such offenders to share and transmit discriminatory content.
A copy of the complaint to NCM may be read here:
Related:
CJP Impact: Twitter suspends Deepak Sharma’s main account
Hathras horror: News channel teams up with serial hate offender to spread anti-victim propaganda
Tandav Controversy: Deepak Sharma demands ‘anti-blasphemy’ law
Hate Watch: CJP writes to NHRC regarding hate on Facebook
Hate Offender: Deepak Sharma’s Hate Speeches have gone unchecked so far
How does Hate Offender Deepak Sharma manage to get FIRs registered on demand?