Chandigarh Court Denies Bail To Hyderabad Based Man In Case Over Misleading Video

A Chandigarh court has denied bail to a Hyderabad-based man accused of circulating misleading content about Prime Minister Narendra Modi on social media platform X, observing that the post amounted to a brutal assault on the dignity of the Prime Minister and w... A Chandigarh court has denied bail to a Hyderabad-based man accused of circulating misleading content about Prime Minister Narendra Modi on social media platform X, observing that the post amounted to a “brutal assault on the dignity” of the Prime Minister and warning that unchecked such utterances could give social media users a “free licence” to damage the reputation of others with impunity. Additional Sessions Judge Rohit Watts dismissed the bail application on May 25 of Hassan Mohiuddin Siddiqi, 42, who was arrested on April 25 in connection with an FIR registered at Cyber Crime Police Station, Sector 26, Chandigarh. According to the prosecution, Siddiqi, in conspiracy with others, used his X account to circulate and disseminate “misleading and scandalous information” concerning the Prime Minister with the intention of damaging his dignity and reputation. The prosecution also alleged that the content had the tendency to promote disharmony among groups and cause public mischief, apart from involving digital manipulation attracting forgery-related offences. Seeking bail, counsel for the accused Abhay Joshi argued that the allegations were “absolutely false”, and Siddiqi had neither shared a morphed video clip nor made any defamatory comment and had merely sought verification from Grok, the artificial intelligence tool on X, regarding the authenticity of a video. The defence further submitted that “there has absolutely been no intention to malign the dignity of any constitutional authority” and that continued incarceration would serve no useful purpose. Opposing the plea, Special Public Prosecutor Manu Kukar argued that the accused had circulated “misleading and scandalous information” without any basis and “with the pure intention to defame and damage the dignity and reputation of none other than the Prime Minister of India”. He further submitted that “these kinds of acts posting and sharing unhealthy material and remarks on social media without any solid basis, cause a deleterious effect on the society at large”. In its detailed order which was released on May 30, the court said that at the stage of bail it was not required to give a final verdict on the culpability of the accused and therefore could not examine whether the ingredients of the offences were ultimately made out. After examining the post and the tweet originating from the accused’s account, the court rejected the defence argument that the post was only intended to seek clarification from Grok. Judge Watts noted that the tweet began with “#breaking news”, specifically referred to the Prime Minister and claimed that reports suggested US intelligence agencies possessed compromising videos. The court observed that it “fails to understand what material was there with the applicant/accused to have claimed that intelligence agencies of the US have tons of videos of the PM. By just mentioning ‘Hey @ Grok this is real?’… applicant/