Twitter summoned for not acting against Kunal Kamra in PM Modi-minor boy doctored video row

Kunal Kamra had shared the purported video of Modi's interaction in Germany with the child but he replaced the song that the boy sang -- 'Hey Janmabhoomi Bharat' -- with "Mehengayi daayan khaaye jaat hain".

Kunal Kamra had shared the purported video of Modi's interaction in Germany with the child.

National Commission for Protection of Child Rights today summoned Twitter for not acting against stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra, days after he had posted a doctored video of a minor boy singing a patriotic song in front of PM Narendra Modi during latter's visit to Germany. The Child Rights body summoned Twitter India's communications director to appear before it on May 18 in the matter.

Kamra had shared the purported video of Modi's interaction in Germany with the child but he replaced the song that the boy sang -- 'Hey Janmabhoomi Bharat' -- with "Mehengayi daayan khaaye jaat hain".

On May 6, NCPCR had sent a notice to Twitter after taking cognizance of 7-year-old Ashutosh's video in Germany, reciting patriotic songs for PM Narendra Modi, getting edited. The NCPCR also sought immediate removal of the video.

The NCPCR, in a letter to Twitter's grievance officer, said a complaint was received by it regarding Kamra tweeting the "doctored" video of a minor singing a patriotic song to further his own political agendas.

"The Commission has taken cognizance of the complaint and is of the view that using minors for propagating political ideologies is a violation of the provisions of the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015 and the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021. Further, the Commission is apprehensive that using children for such promotional purposes is harmful and detrimental to their mental well-being," it said.

Therefore, the Commission said, the video should be taken off the platform immediately and appropriate action should be taken against the official account of Kamra for posting such content.

The father of the boy has lashed out at Kamra, saying "keep the poor boy out of your filthy politics and try to work on your poor jokes." Reacting, Kamra said the video is in the public domain posted by a news organisation. "The joke is not on your son, while you enjoy your son sing for his motherland to the most popular son, there are songs that he should listen to from people of his country also," Kamra tweeted. Kamra, in another tweet, said the NCPCR has sought action against him for posting a "meme".