Twitter troll Shafique Ahmad booked under the IT Act for abusive Tweet

There is a fine line that divides constructive criticism and mindless trolling on social media. While it is healthy to criticise the government on social media platforms, it is equally rude and immature to use abusive and vulgar language. Shafique Ahmad (@Shafiqu46046803) is one such Twitter user who went overboard with his criticism and crossed the line separating criticism from abusive and vulgar trolling. Shafique Ahmad, who hails from Mau in Uttar Pradesh, had used abusive words referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and had tagged Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj and BJP leader Anupam Kher in the tweet. In the derogatory tweet, he blamed PM Modi for apparently ‘selling the country’. His crude tweet had copious amount of vulgar slangs, although it lacked in punctuation and systematic criticism. There is absolutely no way in which this tweet and the man himself could be called a critic of any government or anyone in particular. It was more of a hateful and angry tweet by a troll than anything else. There are ways to express your dissatisfaction with the government and its policies, but this is not one of the permissible ways to do it.

Several Twitter users took notice of this and urged the Uttar Pradesh Police and Mau Police to take action against Shafique Ahmad for his highly abusive and offensive language. Sensible social media users took the best possible means to being the issue to notice, and tagged the UP and Mau Police rather than entering into a debate with the man himself. The maturity shown by the social media users who did not enter into an altercation with Shafique Ahmad is commendable, as it is very difficult for anyone to tolerate such comments on social media without getting personally involved. Samriddh Narayan Rai is one such vigilante on Twitter who helped Mau Police in catching the accused. 

Mau Police became active as soon as the matter came into their consideration, and booked Shafique Ahmad under Section 67 of the Information Technology (IT) Act. Prompt action by the police team followed wherein they arrested Shafique within the span of 24 hours. Rest assured, the law will take its course and punish him for his desperate attempt at fame, by insulting and offending elected leaders in the government. The social media users who brought the issue to notice deserve as much praise as the prompt action by the Uttar Pradesh and Mau police departments.

This incident should serve as an important lesson for the people who want to become famous on social media platforms by abusing others. The internet gives us the liberty to sit behind a screen and freely express our opinions without fear; misusing it to troll other people with hateful and abusive language is not the correct manner to do it. Shafique Ahmad will face the wrath of the law for his abusive and derogatory comments, which were filled with malice against a lady who is many years senior to him and happens to be a Union Minister. The same treatment is reserved for any other troll who threatens and abuses any common citizen of India on social media.