SONU NIGAM QUITS TWITTER AFTER HIS FRIEND ABHIJEET'S ACCOUNT IS SUSPENDED

                                                     Image credited to google

New Delhi: Singer Sonu Nigam has announced in 24 tweets posted this morning that he's quitting Twitter, citing a lack of respect for freedom of speech. Everyone is entitled to their opinion argued Mr Nigam, 43, a day after his colleague Abhijeet Bhattacharya's account was suspended for his abusive tweets against female Twitter users like Shehla Rashid, a JNU student and activist who has made allegations of sex trafficking by some BJP leaders. Sonu Nigam also referenced actor and BJP parliamentarian Paresh Rawal who has been lacerated online after tweeting that author Arundhati Roy should be 'tied to army jeep.' Mr Nigam said in his tweets that he is deleting his account because Twitter is 'one-sided' and 'everyone is angry.'

Sonu Nigam advised us to take screenshots of the 24 tweets he posted announcing his departure from Twitter - so we've done just that. Mr Nigam had nearly 6.5 million followers on the micro-blogging site.

Sonu Nigam only just recently weathered a storm online after complaining about being woken early morning by the azaan or the Muslim call to prayer, describing it as 'gundagardi' in a series of tweets. He refers to this controversy - which ended in him shaving his head on camera in defiance of a cleric's offer of a cash reward to anyone who tonsured the singer - in the tweets above that talk about him being labelled 'anti-Muslim.'

Mr Nigam's accounts on Facebook and Instagram are still active. Twitter, often accused of being soft on trolls and hate speech, suspended the account of Sonu Nigam's colleague Abhijeet Bhattacharya on Tuesday, after an offensive tweet about Shehla Rashid was reported.