'No incident of Army torturing youth in open': Cong leader Salman Nizami slams Shehla Rashid for ‘spreading fake news’

The Indian Army on Sunday rejected Jammu and Kashmir People's Movement leader Shehla Rashid's allegations regarding situation in Jammu and Kashmir and termed them "baseless".

"Allegations levelled by Shehla Rashid are baseless and rejected. Such unverified and fake news are spread by inimical elements and organisations to incite unsuspecting population," the Army stated.

In a series of tweets, Rashid had on Sunday said, "People are saying that Jammu and Kashmir Police has no authority on law and order situation. They have been rendered powerless. Everything is in the hands of paramilitary forces. One SHO was transferred on complaint of a CRPF man. SHOs carrying batons. Service revolvers can't be seen on them."

In another post, she wrote, "Armed forces are entering houses at night, picking up boys, ransacking houses, deliberately spilling rations on the floor, mixing oil with rice, etc."

Rashid also claimed that in Shopian, four men were called into the "Army camp and "interrogated" (tortured)."

"A mic was kept close to them so that the entire area could hear them scream, and be terrorised. This created an environment of fear in the entire area," she wrote.

A criminal complaint filed against activist Shehla Rashid for allegedly spreading fake news against the Indian Army and government was transferred to the Special Cell of Delhi Police on Monday.

The complaint was filed by the Supreme Court lawyer Alakh Alok Srivastava earlier today.

Srivastava accused Rashid of deliberately and intentionally spreading fake news with the intention to incite violence in Jammu and Kashmir and in other parts of the country.

The complainant further said that her tweets, which were intensively shared on Twitter and other international platforms, caused irreparable injury to the reputation of India.

He alleged that Rashid intended to excite disaffection towards the government, which is prima facie an offence of sedition under Section 124-A of IPC.

"Rashid has further committed offences of 'promoting enmity between the classes' under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Information Technology Act," reads the complaint.

Another lawyer Virendra Jabra also filed a written complaint against Rashid for defaming the Indian Army. He also urged the Mumbai Police to file a sedition case against her.