FIR against three Instagram accounts over alleged obscene posts on Rahul Gandhi

The Bengaluru Cyber Crime Police have registered a First Information Report (FIR) against three Instagram account holders over an allegedly obscene and defamatory video targeting Congress leader and Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, along with abusive comments posted on the social media platform.According to the complaint, a member of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) Legal Cell came across the video on Instagram on July 25, and the FIR was registered on July 27. The 30-second video, allegedly uploaded on July 16 from the account ground.reality_india, carried Rahul Gandhi's photograph along with obscene, sexually explicit and derogatory remarks, the complaint alleged.The video was posted with the caption, "Why is the Opposition party silent", and was allegedly intended to insult and defame the Congress leader while undermining the dignity of an elected public representative.The complainant further alleged that several users posted abusive and obscene comments under the video. According to the complaint, some comments contained sexually explicit slurs, derogatory language and remarks offensive to the dignity of women. Similar inflammatory comments were allegedly posted by multiple users on the same post.Seeking legal action, the complainant urged the police to identify both the person who uploaded the video and the users who posted the objectionable comments.Apart from ground.reality_india, the FIR also names Instagram users raashtravaadhi2 and manvithamanojsamanvi for allegedly posting abusive and provocative comments on the video.The case has been registered under Section 67 of the Information Technology Act, 2000, which deals with publishing or transmitting obscene material in electronic form, and Section 352 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023. Police said further investigation is underway.