According to officials cited by PTI on Friday, the Maharashtra Cyber Cell has filed a case against at least four Wikipedia editors for failing to remove “objectionable” articles about Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj from the open-source encyclopedia.
The Wikimedia Foundation, based in California, had previously received a warning from the agency asking that the item be taken down from Wikipedia. Wikipedia is hosted by a non-profit organisation called the Wikimedia Foundation.
Because Sambhaji Maharaj, the son of Maratha empire founder Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, is a highly venerated figure, the cyber agency claimed in the notice that the text on Wikipedia was false and may cause a law-and-order crisis in the state.
Additionally, it issued a warning that the content on Wikimedia could incite discontent among his supporters. Devendra Fadnavis, the chief minister of Maharashtra, ordered Wikimedia to send the notification.
Officials claim that the Maharashtra Cyber has filed a case against at least four Wikipedia contributors because Wikimedia did not respond.
Under the provisions of the Information Technology Act, the editors have been booked.
A community of volunteers collaborates freely to write and maintain Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia with free material.
The dispute:
The concerns have been made in light of the recently released Hindi film “Chhaava,” which is based on Sambhaji Maharaj’s life.
Devendra Fadnavis, the chief minister of Maharashtra, instructed the state’s cyber police earlier this week to contact Wikipedia and ask that “objectionable” articles about Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj be taken down.
Shortly after the Bollywood film’s premiere, several organisations reported purported historical inaccuracies in the well-known online encyclopedia, prompting the action.
Fadnavis stressed that, especially given the issue, the falsification of history on open-source websites such as Wikipedia would not be accepted.
“I have requested that the cyber unit of the Inspector General of Maharashtra get in touch with Wikipedia administrators and request that they take down the offensive material on Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj. Such misrepresentations of historical truths on open-source platforms will not be accepted,” Fadnavis declared.