Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan signed the ordinance on Saturday (archive)
Thiruvananthapuram:
Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan on Saturday enacted an ordinance passed by the ruling LDF to amend the Southern State Police Act to punish those guilty of spreading content by any means of communication, including social media, which is says it is derogatory or defamatory.
Under the amended sections of the law, the defendant can face up to three years in jail, a fine of Rs 10,000, or both. Government sources say the ordinance protects women and children amid an increase in cyberbullying and hate speech, noting that such attacks can pose a threat to the physical and mental safety of targeted individuals.
The amended law allows the police to take suo moto action in such cases.
However, the opposition has raised concerns about an amendment that they say gives the police unnecessarily greater power and potentially restricts freedom of the press, as well as allowing the state to target critics.
Congressional leader P Chidambaram tweeted this morning that he was “shocked” by the new law.
“Shocked by the law enacted by the Kerala Democratic Left Front (LDF) government that makes a so-called ‘offensive’ post on social media punishable by 5 years in prison,” he said.
Shocked by law enacted by Kerala’s LDF government making a so-called ‘offensive’ post on social media punishable by 5 years in prison
– P. Chidambaram (@PChidambaram_IN) November 22, 2020
In October, when the LDF government recommended the addition of this provision to the Kerala Police Act (2011), its ally the Communist Party of India (CPI) expressed similar concerns.
The chief minister, Pinarayi Vijayan, had previously said that the number of cyberattacks was “very worrying”.
“Cyberattacks are a threat to the privacy of life. It has been decided to amend the Police Law as existing laws are considered inadequate to address the problem. The state cabinet has decided to recommend to the Governor that he issue an amendment to the Law as an ordinance, “he wrote on Facebook.
According to the PTI news agency, the state government also pointed out that while the Supreme Court had repealed some other sections, of the Police and Information Technology Law, the center had not introduced any other legal framework, and this was affecting the capacity of the police to deal with crimes committed on or through social media.
With input from PTI
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