Five criminal cases have been registered against 71 people by the Tripura police (File)
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Tuesday sought an action taken report from the Tripura government within four weeks on complaints of political violence and violence against communities that are a religious minority in the state.
This comes on a day the Tripura police claimed that they have registered at least five separate cases and charged over 70 people for spreading fake news and instigating people on social media with posts of mosque vandalism in the state.
"Five criminal cases have been registered against 71 people who posted provocative posts on social media. Strict action shall be taken against those persons who are trying to create hatred in the society," the Tripura police tweeted.
The complaint was filed by RTI activist Saket Gokhale, who had recently joined the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and has been given the charge of the party's National Spokesperson.
Saket Gokhale, in his complaint, had mentioned the attack on TMC's Rajya Sabha MP Sushmita Dev during a campaign rally last month and the attacks on the religious minorities in North Tripura district's Panisagar block where a mosque was set on fire.
"The Commission has considered the complaint and directed its Registry to transmit the copy of the complaint to the Chief Secretary, Government of Tripura and the Director-General of Police, Tripura to submit an action taken report within a period of four weeks," the NHRC report said.
"It is alleged that workers of the ruling party of the state had attacked leaders of the All India Trinamool Congress while they were campaigning in the State," the report mentioned.
Sushmita Dev, who is also in charge of TMC's campaigns in Tripura, had filed a writ petition before the Supreme Court about the attacks.
"It is further alleged that on the date so mentioned, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) carried out a rally in an area under North Tripura during which one of the religious places of worship belonging to the minority community was vandalized and two shops were burnt down by the mob who carried out the rally. Reports of violence against persons from the religious minority communities were also reported but ironically the state machinery acted like a bystander by siding with a rioting mob. It is also stated that post such incidents, there is an atmosphere of immense fear amongst the members of that community in the area with regard to their life and safety," the Commission's report said.
Meanwhile, taking to Twitter, Sanjay Mishra - an aide to Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Deb - wrote: "Check how opposition is trying to shame Tripura by using bots and people outside Tripura over a Fake planted news. Tripura knows this is Fake propaganda, this is why just 30 tweets from state out of 78k total. Who's running the Fake Campaign from Maharashtra, Delhi, USA?"
Earlier, the Tripura government had claimed that there was a conspiracy by "outsiders" to malign the state government by promoting fake news.