Telangana’s cybercrime police have registered two cases over alleged morphed and objectionable social media content targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) protests. They have named operators of several Facebook and Instagram accounts as well as Meta India head Arun Srinivas as co-accused.
The cases were filed on July 29 on complaints from BJP supporters. According to them, manipulated videos and images of PM Modi had circulated widely on social media.
The cases have been registered in Telangana, where a Congress government under Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy is in power. Police are still working to trace the individuals operating the accounts named in the complaints.
‘Democracy Permits Disagreement, Not Digital Lynching’
BJP spokesperson N.V. Subhash defended the move, drawing a line between political criticism and what he called organised abuse. “We welcome criticism, political opposition and democratic debate. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has perhaps faced more criticism than any other political leader in contemporary India. Criticism is not the issue. Organised and vulgar abuse masquerading as political activism is,” Subhash said. “Democracy permits disagreement, not digital lynching,” he added.
What the Complainants Alleged
The first complaint came from S. Arvind Reddy, a 29-year-old businessman. He said he came across several morphed and digitally altered videos and images of the Prime Minister on Instagram. He described the content as obscene, derogatory and misleading.
“I came across multiple morphed and digitally manipulated videos and images depicting the Prime Minister, US President and former Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan in an obscene, derogatory and misleading manner. Such content has the potential to mislead the public,” he wrote in his complaint.
The second complaint came from T. Saikiran Goud, a member of BJP Telangana’s social media cell. He said he encountered objectionable reels and morphed images on Facebook and Instagram while browsing on July 29. Furthermore, Goud listed 20 URLs of Instagram and Facebook accounts in his complaint and sought an investigation.
“On behalf of Telangana BJP karyakartas, we seek an investigation into certain Instagram accounts that have been publishing and circulating content which, in our opinion, is derogatory towards the Prime Minister and appear to promote narratives that may be prejudicial to the sovereignty, integrity and public order of the nation,” Goud wrote, requesting police identify the accounts’ operators and initiate legal action.
The Charges Filed
Telangana Police invoked relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) along with Sections 66-C and 67 of the IT Act. These sections cover identity theft and the publishing or transmission of obscene material in electronic form. Both the identified account operators and Meta’s India head were named as co-accused.
According to the police investigation so far, most of the videos and images cited in the complaints have either been deleted or are no longer accessible in India. Moreover, police sources said all the links cited in the complaints had gone inactive by July 30. This was a day after the cases were registered.
With the content itself largely unreachable and the account operators still unidentified. The investigation’s next steps will likely hinge on what cooperation, if any, Meta provides in tracing the accounts.
Naming the company’s India head as a co-accused also raises the stakes for how Meta responds. In addition, it raises the question of whether this becomes a template for similar complaints in other BJP-run or opposition-run states following the CJP protests.
Curated news reports, in-depth analysis, and special features by India’s Opinion editorial team.
