MUMBAI: The cyber cell of the Mumbai Police filed an FIR against a prominent online entertainment company, All India Bakchod (AIB), on Friday for defamation after it posted altered images of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on social media.
One of the images showed a look-alike of the Prime Minister at a railway station looking keenly into his cell phone.
The other was a photo of PM with dog’s ears and nose, made using a ‘Snapchat’ filter. The AIB posted the images on Twitter and Instagram on Wednesday.
On Friday, the company was charged with offenses under the IT Act for which the punishment is up to three years in jail and a fine of Rs 5 lakh, police sources said.
The images provoked strong reactions, as they went viral on social media. Some accused the popular AIB of insulting the Prime Minister and hurting national sentiments.
A Twitter user, Reetesh Maheshwari, posted the images on Twitter and tagged the Mumbai police and urged them to take action against defamation of the Prime Minister.
Meanwhile, the AIB took the picture off the social media.
However, Tanmay Bhat, a co-founder of AIB defended the ‘meme’.
“Will continue making jokes. And delete if necessary. And making jokes again. And apologize if necessary. Don’t care what you think,” said one of his tweets.
Bhat had courted controversy last year after he superimposed Sachin Tendulkar’s face over that of singer Lata Mangeshkar’s.
Mumbai Police spokesperson DCP Rashmi Karandikar said Friday’s FIR was registered after due legal consultation.