Rajasthan: Garbage tipper plays communal clip instead of COVID-19 awareness message, 2 held

This picture has been used for representational purpose

The driver of a garbage tipper was arrested along with his friend for allegedly playing a communally provocative speech on the vehicle's speaker instead of the awareness message about COVID, police said on Monday.

The incident occurred on Sunday in the Dadabari area that falls under Kota Municipal Corporation (KMC), South and the accused driver Deepak Valmiki (21) and his friend Jassu (23) were arrested following a complaint, DSP and CO Dadabari Ankit Jain said.

A case under Section 295 A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and 76 of the Internet Technology (IT) Act was registered against the two on the contractor's complaint.

The driver, however, told police that the speech, which he received from Jassu on WhatsApp, played "accidentally" during door to door garbage collection as the van's speaker was connected to his phone via Bluetooth and the clip was in the queue.

According to the contractor's complaint, the driver had strict instructions to play Corona awareness audio and nothing else, Dadabari Circle Inspector Kalawati said.

In a viral video, however, the accused driver says that the contractor himself asked him to play the provocative audio, in which someone can be heard as saying that the current COVID situation in the country was a result of Supreme Court verdict on Babri Masjid.

The DSP said that investigation in the case was on. Meanwhile, KMC, South served notices to three of its officials for negligence on duty. KMC, South Commissioner Kirti Rathore said the garbage tippers were operated in though private contractors.

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