AAP files police complaint on 'inciting' social media clippings

The AAP in Goa on Wednesday filed a police complaint after video clippings "inciting communalism" were circulated on the social media in the last few days, police said.

The complaint was filed at the Panaji police station by Aam Aadmi Party leader Valmiki Naik, who alleged that unidentified persons were trying to incite hatred against the Church by releasing videos on the social media and urged the police's Cyber Cell to track down the miscreants.

In his complaint, Naik said that the videos are a "criminal act meant to incite hatred and communal passions and promote enmity between communities and to disturb peaceful fabric of Goa".

A police spokesperson confirmed that a complaint had been filed and initial enquiries are underway.

The videos slammed Goa's influential Roman Catholic Church and accused it of wrongdoings and selling large parcels of its land for commercial gain, among other things.

The video messages come at a time when the Goa Church is allegedly on a confrontation path with the Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition government in the state, especially alliance partner Goa Forward, over Town and Country Planning Minister Vijai Sardesai's decision to bring back a controversial land-use plan which the Church claimed will convert swathes of land for real estate development.

The Church has backed holding of a public meeting on April 27 in South Goa's Margao to protest against the Minister's decision.

Catholics in Goa account for nearly 26 per cent of the state's 1.5 million population.

--IANS

maya/tsb/vm