Guwahati: The Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) on Tuesday lodged an FIR at Guwahati’s Dispur police station over an AI-generated video posted recently on the official ‘X’ handle of the Assam Bharatiya Janata Party. The video, which was later deleted due to controversy, reportedly showed Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma firing at members of the minority community.The video showed Sarma aiming the rifle and firing at the two men. One of them was wearing a skull cap, the other had a beard, and the caption read “Shooting from close range.”The police complaint signed by Congress MLAs Diganta Burman and Shivamoni Bora had demanded immediate arrest of Sarma. At the time of filing this report, the police had not yet registered a case.
According to the FIR, the “highly provocative content” was shared on February 7 through the official ‘X’ handle of the Bharatiya Janata Party Assam Pradesh (@BTC4Assam). The complaint said it depicts CM Sarma symbolically firing at Muslims at close range. The FIR further alleged that the captions accompanying the video used phrases like “Free Assam for foreigners”, “No mercy” and “Why didn’t you go to Pakistan”? And “There is no forgiveness for Bangladeshis.” The Congress claimed that the content deliberately targeted the minority Muslim community in the state with “malice”. Responding to the FIR, Sarma said, “You all know who I am against. What will happen to me if they file a complaint against me? Black is black and white is white to me.”People in Congress can’t scare me. ” “Let Shivamoni Bora, Diganta Burman or their Malik Rahul Gandhi file a complaint against me,” Sarma told mediapersons, showing his thumb to Congress leaders on camera.The FIR by the Congress said that the circulation of such AI-generated videos is aimed at humiliating and provoking a particular community and can seriously disturb social harmony and create an atmosphere of hatred and tension in the society. “The said content targeted at a particular community is highly provocative and communal and will definitely create social disharmony among the people,” the FIR said.At the time of filing the complaint, the two MLAs were accompanied by APCC media and communication department director Vedavrat Bora and state coordinator Gopal Sharma. Following the filing of the FIR, the APCC requested that a case be registered under appropriate sections of the Penal Code.Vedavrat Bora questioned whether the Bharatiya Janata Party was trying to portray the CM as a “gun-toting terrorist” through such content.
