Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) West Bengal secretary and CPI(M) leader Minakshi Mukherjee lodged a complaint with Kolkata police on Saturday, seeking action against a fake Facebook account that she alleged was using her name to spread provocative content.
The controversy began after a viral social media post attributed to Minakshi Mukherjee featured a distorted image of Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader and Kolkata Mayor Firhad Hakim.
After the post went viral, TMC leader Kunal Ghosh wrote on X, “Trinamool leader Firhad Hakim can be a political enemy of CPM. But this reflection of dishonour and ugliness by bringing images of beards, bottles, Muslim society, and mosques while distorting his image is despicable. This post should be deleted immediately and apologised for. Such distortions come only if you don’t succeed in politics. Insulting a religion in this persuasive manner is grossly wrong. However, for CPM, such mentality is normal.”
Meanwhile, a person filed an FIR at the Chetla police station against Mukherjee for spreading provocative messages on social media.
In her complaint to the cyber police, Mukherjee provided links to her three social media accounts: Two on Facebook and one on X. She stated that all other profiles using her name and pictures were fake and unauthorised.
She said, “I even don’t know about the post. Later, I saw that post and also saw that the profile was not mine. Someone made a fake profile of mine to spread such unacceptable messages. I filed a formal complaint against this.”
In her complaint, Mukherjee wrote, “We came across a highly objectionable and defamatory Facebook post from one Minakshi Mukherjee depicting Hon’ble Mayor of Kolkata, Janab Firhad Hakim, in a communally sensitive and harmful manner. The post shows an Al-generated image of him with a beard, wearing a skull cap, and holding a liquor bottle, which is considered Haram in Islam….”
“We, therefore, request you to urgently lodge an FIR against this offensive post and book the cybercriminal. Kindly send an action-taken report to us as soon as possible,” she added, providing the link to the post and a screenshot.
Police Commissioner Manoj Burma said they were investigating the matter.