He was arrested under provisions of the I-T Act dealing with hate speech
In response to an FB post about the damage wrought by Cyclone Hudhud in Vizag, Rahul Reddy allegedly posted: "I love u Hudhood, Mosam chesina varini matram bendu teestunna prakruthi (nature is taking revenge on those who cheated)… feeling god is
Hyderabad: The Andhra Pradesh CID has arrested a YSRC activist and law student, Ch Rahul Reddy of Guntur, for allegedly posting “irresponsible and anti-people” comments on Facebook.
In response to an FB post about the damage wrought by Cyclone Hudhud in Vizag, Rahul Reddy allegedly posted: “I love u Hudhood, Mosam chesina varini matram bendu teestunna prakruthi (nature is taking revenge on those who cheated)… feeling god is there (sic).”
He was arrested under provisions of the I-T Act dealing with hate speech.
Rahul Reddy, the YSRC activist who was arrested by AP CID for his post on Facebook, is a resident of Arundalpet in Guntur and is doing his BL final year at a local college. He allegedly “closely moves with YSRC district student wing,” police said.
CID additional DG Ch D. Tirumala Rao said the police had received a complaint on October 15 regarding adverse comments posted on social networking sites regarding Cyclone Hudhud.
A case was registered under Section 153 A and Section 66-A(b) of the IT Act 2000 for spreading hatred, Mr Tirumala Rao said.
Netizens had mixed reactions over the arrest. “I am not against government screening social networking because they have the ability of causing chaos. In this case there was no reasonable chance of his comment causing chaos at a mass level so I think it is an extreme measure,” said Ms T. Shivani Reddy, law student.
Sandeep Kumar Makthala, an IT employee, said, “One who raises controversial statements on social network sites mostly will not have complete awareness about the intensity of the particular event. They are mostly influenced by their own likes or dislikes. The law may not be applicable for the feelings shared on social network. There are many others who share or promote vulgar statements on women and this is very high in India. Strict laws are to be made on those issues, as compared to the posts made on the cyclone.”
Saikiran Rao, another social network user, said, “Most people make sadistic comments on social media on various subjects. People hardly know these amount to an offence. In this case however, I think he deserves to be arrested as it is not an ordinary person but one with political motives who is making fun of lakhs of people who suffered due to the cyclone.”
“Social media does not have any disclaimer saying that hate comments or comments hurting the sentiments of people should not be posted. In the past I have come across hate pages against people of certain organisations. So it is surprising that a person is arrested for a comment,” said social media user, Sruthi Patti from Visakhapatnam.
( Source : dc correspondent )
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