The Gujarat Police on Tuesday arrested journalist Aakar Patel for allegedly posting offensive content against a particular community on Twitter. Patel told Scroll.in that he was arrested but not detained as he was granted anticipatory bail.
The complaint was filed based on a first information report registered in July against him in Surat city by a Bharatiya Janata Party MLA identified as Purneshbhai Ishwarbhai Modi. According to the FIR, the BJP MLA is listed as a social worker and chief of Gujarat’s Modh-Modi community.
“I was questioned between noon and about 6.30 pm [on Tuesday],” Patel said. “I will consult my lawyer to move to quash the case.”
In his complaint, the BJP MLA alleged that Patel purposefully used his Twitter account to provoke communal animosity and claimed the journalist also defamed the Hindu-Ghanchi community with the intention of damaging…