Srinagar MP, former mayor booked for ‘misleading’ posts purportedly about Khamenei killing

The Jammu and Kashmir Police on Tuesday said that National Conference MP Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi and former Srinagar Mayor Junaid Azim Mattu have been booked for sharing allegedly misleading content on social media.

It was not clear what content the police were referring to. However, Mehdi and Mattu have been condemning the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the attacks by the United States and Israel on Iran that began on Saturday.

The conflict in West Asia began when Israel and the US attacked Iran. Khamenei was killed on Sunday in the joint military operation carried out by the two countries. Tehran retaliated by striking Israel and US military bases in the region, and targeting major cities in other Gulf countries.

On Tuesday, Mehdi claimed that the case against him was filed because of his statements on the situation in West Asia. The two of them had earlier said that their security had also been downgraded.

On the other hand, the police said that the first information reports against the two were filed after “credible inputs” regarding the “circulation of false, fabricated and misleading content across digital and social media platforms with the intent to create fear, disturb public order and incite unlawful activities”.

The content in question reflected “dissemination of distorted narratives and unverified information” capable of...

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