Congressional Deputy Shashi Tharoor also said the Kerala government’s decision is “worrying”.
He said the law will respond to several offensive tweets against women.
“But it is worded so loosely that it could also be used against political opponents, journalists and critics,” Tharoor tweeted.
In another tweet, Tharoor specifically mentioned “sanghis and libtards” and said that this law can be challenged in court and will be so because any political attack on social media against a party or “class of people” could attract its provisions.
“It should be revised to limit its application to flagrant cases of abuse and threats only,” Tharoor tweeted.
Kerala’s head of Congress, Mullappally Ramachandran, called the law “absolute fascism”.
He said allegations including drug smuggling and trafficking have surfaced against the state government, and were exposed by the media.
“This law has been introduced as part of a conspiracy to silence voices against the government,” Ramachandran quoted ANI as saying.
Last month, the state Cabinet had decided to strengthen the Police Act by recommending the addition of Section 118-A. This replaces the now-defunct Section 66A of the Information Technology Act, which made posting ‘offensive’ comments online a punishable offense, The News Minute reported.
(With ANI and TNM inputs)
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