Mohali court directs FB, Google to remove offensive content against CM

A Mohali court has issued orders to remove a "vulgar and unlawful" video of Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann released from social media handles on October 21.The court, on October 22, issued directions to the Facebook and Google to remove all offensive material and preserve the record related to the offending material so that evidence was not vitiated.

Meanwhile, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) this morning said, "An AI deep fake video of Punjab CM is being shared by right wing trolls. This is a fake video and the court has issued directions to remove it."

After the social media post fuelled intense speculation over the veracity of the video, the Punjab State Crime Police Station had booked Canadian resident Jagman Samra for posting "vulgar, unlawful" content on social media to instigate enmity among people on October 21.

The police said the users of the Facebook account uploaded multiple posts with the mala fide intention to promote enmity among people and was prejudicial to the maintenance of public harmony in the state of Punjab.

"The content is vulgar, unlawful and has the potential to incite hatred, enmity or ill-will among groups of people," the complaint read. The post came to light when the social media monitoring cell noticed the post on the Facebook.

On the complaint of Inspector Gaganpreet Singh, a case under sections 340 (2), 352 (1), 353 (2), 351 (2), 336 (4), and 67 IT Act of the BNS at the Punjab State Crime Police Station on October 22.

AAP Punjab leader Baltej Pannu slammed the Opposition for circulating fake video targeting CM Bhagwant Mann, calling it a “desperate and disgraceful attempt at character assassination” by political rivals who have failed to find a single instance of corruption or wrongdoing in nearly four years of the AAP’s governance in Punjab.

Addressing a press conference at the party office in Chandigarh, Pannu said the Mohali court had categorically declared the viral video as fake and directed that all such videos be removed from every platform (Facebook and Google) within 24 hours. The court has also ordered that the video must not appear even in search results, warning that strict legal action will be taken against those who fail to comply.

“The court’s decision is clear, the video is fake, malicious, and a deliberate attempt to malign the image of the CM. The court has ordered its immediate removal and even directed Google to ensure that it does not appear in searches,” said Pannu.

He said the person responsible for spreading this fake content resides in Canada and already faces multiple allegations of fraud. “This is the same individual who earlier tried similar tactics against a Union Minister. The outcome of that episode is known to everyone, his lies collapsed in public,” he added.

Pannu further exposed how dozens of BJP-linked social media accounts amplified the fake video, pointing to a coordinated smear campaign. He revealed that accounts sharing the video were either directly managed by BJP functionaries or followed by senior BJP leaders, including Ashwani Sharma (Punjab BJP working president), Ajay Sehrawat (BJP Delhi spokesperson), Pallavi CT (followed by PM Modi), Sunil Bishnoi (BJP social media in charge, Nagaur), Kapil Mishra (BJP leader, Delhi), Aand Krishna (BJP member), Manish Kumar (advocate, Ministry of Railways), Alok Kumar (social media & IT cell in charge, UP)

Punjab BJP’s state media head Vineet Joshi, while speaking to reporters at the party office in Chandigarh today, said, " If the video is fake, why is the CM silent?”

After 48 hours had passed, Ashwani Sharma had merely tweeted: “The man who used to hold press conferences over every small issue is now silent on his alleged video. Punjab deserves an answer, Bhagwant sahib, please give a clarification. Joshi questioned, “What is wrong in the tweet?”

Raising questions about the FIR registered by the Cyber Cell, Joshi asked, “When the CM is being mentioned in the video, why hasn’t his statement been included in the FIR? Is there pressure on the Cyber Cell, or is the government trying to suppress the matter?”