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Hyderabad/Chandigarh: The Punjab police have arrested a Hyderabad-based freelance journalist for allegedly retweeting a video shared by academician and former Modi supporter Madhu Kishwar, over allegedly circulating forged and misleading content on social media.

Hasan Mohiuddin Siddiqui was arrested by the Sector-26 police station in Chandigarh and sent to judical remand on Sunday, May 9.

Further details are awaited.

Besides working as a freelancer, Siddiqui is also an avid historian.

According to several reports, Hassan suffers from severe pancreatitis and requires constant medical attention.

The journalist had retweeted Kishwar’s X post, which seems to have been deleted now.

Last month, an FIR was lodged against her under relevant sections, including 196 (criminalises acts that promote enmity, hatred, or ill-will between groups based on religion, race, language), 336 (1) (forgery) and 356 (criminal defamation) of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the IT Act at Police Station Sector-26.

A local resident filed a complaint alleging forged and misleading posts and video clips with obscene text and content were being circulated by various social media users, misidentifying the person in the video.

As per the complainant, it is a deliberate act of creating a false electronic record using obscene words and phrases, having knowledge and sufficient reason to believe that the posts are misleading and false, with the intent to cause damage or injury.

The video, which circulated with the intent to cause harm to the reputation of a constitutional authority and to disturb public peace and tranquility, should be investigated, and appropriate action should be taken, according to the complainant.