Mumbai: The Mumbai police’s cyber cell registered a defamation case against the All India Bakchod (AIB) on Friday, after the comedy group tweeted a meme purportedly on Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday.
The meme in question, used a Snapchat dog filter superimposed on the Prime Minister’s face. A Twitter user, Reetesh Maheshwari, complained on Mumbai police’s handle, calling the meme an “obnoxious prank” which ought to invite legal action.
The AIB was also booked for allegedly transmitting obscene material in electronic form.
Mumbai police PRO Rashmi Karandikar told this newspaper, “The FIR was registered under section 500 (defamation) of IPC and 67 IT Act (punishment for publishing or transmitting obscene material in electronic form) at the cyber police station at Bandra-Kurla Complex. After legal consultations, an offence was registered against AIB and a further probe is on.”
According to sources, “The post used a Snapchat dog filter for Mr Modi’s image and posted it along with a photograph of a Modi-look alike peering into his phone. Posted with the hashtag ‘wanderlust’, apparently it was trying to take a dig at the Prime Minister for his foreign visits.”
AIB co-founder Tanmay Bhatt later tweeted through @thetanmay “PS: Will continue making jokes. And deleting if necessary. And making jokes again. And apologising if necessary. Don’t care what you think. (sic)”
Bhatt also said, “Congress leaders and BJP trolls both getting mad over a goddamn silly snapchat filter meme…. I get BJP trolls, they’ve got no better work. You guys are a part of the party. You actually hold some responsibility. Waking up in the morning and trying to shame some comedians for deleting a meme. Ispe utar gaye ho, (sic)” he wrote in a series of tweets.
Comedian Sorabh Pant is confident nothing will come out of the case. “I really don’t think anything will come out of this FIR, because it’s mostly baseless,” he explains.
