Scheduled Castes Commission Asks Meerut Police To Add A String Of Charges In FIR On Man Who Put Rs 51-Lakh Bounty On Naveen’s Head

Last evening, a video went viral on social media of an Uttar Pradesh-based man named Shahzeb Rizvi announcing a Rs 51-lakh bounty on Karnataka Congress MLA Akhanda Srinivasmurthy's nephew for making an alleged derogatory Facebook post about Prophet Mohammed.

The bounty video was a chilling reminder of the tragic case of Kamlesh Tiwari, a Lucknow resident who received similar threats over an alleged post on Prophet Mohammed and was later shot and hacked to death by two Muslim men.

Shahzeb Rizvi is a former Samajwadi Party youth leader and lives in Falawada town of UP’s Meerut district.

On the night of 13 August, the Falawada police filed a first information report (FIR) against Rizvi based on a written complaint. He was booked under IPC sections 153-A and 505(2).

Now, the National Commission for Scheduled Castes has asked the Meerut police to add a string of charges to the FIR, saying that the matter concerns a person from the Scheduled Caste. As per reports, Akhanda Srinivasmurthy and his nephew Naveen belong to a Scheduled Caste.

‪The commission had directed the police to add these sections to the FIR: IPC sections 106, 108, 111, 115, 120(A and B), 268, 295A, 295, 298, 503, 505(A) and 506; section 151 of CrPC, and relevant sections of the SC-ST Prevention of Atrocity Act.

A copy of the notice to the commission can be seen below:

At the time of publishing this report, the commission had not received a reply from the Meerut police.

This copy will be updated when the Meerut police responds.