Kishan Bharwad case: Activists want police to intervene over hatred messages

Following the murder of Kishan Bharwad at Ahmedabad's Dhandhuka, a group of Gujarat citizens and activists submitted a letter to Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel requesting police action against purported hate messages circulating on social media.

On Thursday, rights campaigner Father Cedric Prakash, barrister Anand Yagnik, activists Shamshad Pathan, Mujahid Nafees, and Ambrish Mehta Bhargav Oza signed a letter to Patel on behalf of "concerned citizens."

Kishan Bharwad, 30, was shot and killed by two men on January 25 in Dhandhuka town, allegedly for posting an offensive video on Facebook.

"We, a group of citizens from different parts of Gujarat, would draw your attention to the inflammatory hate messages on social media and public calls for violence against the Muslim community, following the unfortunate, condemnable murder of Kishan Bharwad in Dhandhuka by certain criminal elements..," the letter read.

"Hence in the best interest of Gujarat, we demand to direct the police to track, file FIRs against and apprehend those criminal elements propagating hate messages against the Muslim community in social media (Sic)," the letter read.