The proposal for this ordinance actually came up over a month ago, but it was only finalized last week and received the consent of Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan on Saturday, November 21.
The ordinance amends the Kerala Police Law (a state-level criminal law), adding a new Section 118A. This provision punishes any type of “communication” – including statements, articles, social media posts, etc. – that threatens, abuses, humiliates or defames a person or class of people.
The person making this communication needs to know that what they are saying is false and that it will cause “harm to the mind, reputation or property” of the target person or class of people.
The punishment for this crime is up to three years in prison and / or a fine of up to Rs 10,000. Even those who had just shared a post could be punished.
The ordinance was declared to take effect immediately and, like any other ordinance, had a useful life of six months before it expired, although the state legislature could always pass a similar law during that period to make it permanent.
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