Facebook apologises for 'mistakenly' removing poet Srijato's controversial poem, restores post

According to reports, as a large number of people reported against Srijato Bandyopadhyay's controversial poem, Facebook authority found 'hate-speech' in the post and deleted it from his timeline.

"A member of our team accidentally removed something you posted on Facebook. This was a mistake, and we sincerely apologize for the error," Facebook wrote in a message, which has been sent to Srijato.

"We've since restored the content, and you should now be able to see it," the social networking site further said.

Few days ago, Srijato posted a poem on Facebook, a day after Yogi Adityanath was sworn in as the chief minister of newly elected BJP-led government in Uttar Pradesh.

Alleging that few stanzas of the poem hurt religious sentiments, several users of the social networking site had asked Facebook authority to delete the poem and following those complaints, Facebook authority took step against it and removed the controversial post from Srijato's wall on Friday.

For this Facebook post, at least two FIRs have been lodged against Srijato at two different police stations in West Bengal and based on an FIR, Siliguri Metropolitan Police have registered a non-bailable case in a local court against the poet.

Claiming that he is receiving death threats on social media, Srijato Bandyopadhyay has lodged a complaint at Kolkata Police headquarter at Lalbazar and the city police have assigned a  constable of special branch for the poet's security.

(Reporting by Deepayan Sinha)