Nawazuddin Siddiqui's brother Ayazuddin says he did not post an offensive picture on Facebook
The cyber cell of police will investigate a case lodged against the brother of Bollywood actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui for allegedly posting an offensive and objectionable picture on a social media website and hurting religious sentiments, a senior police official said today.
A case was registered against Ayazuddin on Sunday in Budhan town on the complaint of a Hindu Yuva Vahini activist for allegedly posting an objectionable picture on Facebook. "Ayazudin's case has been handed over to cyber cell," said Senior Superintendent of Police Anant Dev Singh.
Ayazuddin denied the allegations. He told news agency ANI that he noticed the objectionable picture of "shiv ji maharaj on his page and wrote a comment saying pictures that hurt people's sentiments should not be posted" but the police instead of catching the actual culprits, filed a case against him.
"Someone posted a derogatory picture of Lord Shiva. I confronted him and wrote you should not share posts that hurt anyone's sentiments. Instead a case was filed against me. Charges should be investigated," Ayazuddin Siddiqui said.
The First Investigation Report was filed by one Bharat Thakur, who is reportedly an activist of Hindu Yuva Vahini in Muzzaffarnagar.
The police said they are investigating whether Ayazuddin's phone was used to post the picture. The police said the actor's brother did not want to hurt anyone... and "his comments condemned the derogatory picture but by mistake he may have copied the picture while commenting on it."
Nawazuddin's family belongs to Budhana in Muzaffarnagar district. In 2016, the actor and his brother were forced to pull out of a Ramlila show in his hometown, after Shiv Sena activists opposed it apparently because he was a Muslim. The party's then youth leader Aditya Thackeray said he spoke to "Nawazuddin Siddiqui ji to convey that the party does not endorse the reason because of which he was prevented from performing at the Ramlila in UP."
(With inputs from PTI and ANI)