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A day after two YouTubers – ‘Prashna’ Raavan and KV Reddy – were arrested by the Andhra Pradesh police for their comments against Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu and Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan, the Deputy CM said that a dedicated mechanism will be established to receive complaints related to social media abuse.
“Citizens can submit screenshots, links, videos and other digital evidence. Every genuine complaint will be examined and forwarded to the appropriate authorities for legal action,” he announced, stating that the government stands with every citizen who has suffered social media abuse.
In a video statement released on the night of July 1, Pawan Kalyan even specified what charges would be invoked in such cases – Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita Sections 351 (criminal intimidation), 352 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace), 353 (statements conducing to public mischief), 356 (defamation), 79 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman), 299 (insulting religious beliefs), 196 (promoting enmity between different groups on ground of religion), and Sections 66C (identity theft), 66D (cheating by personation), and 67 (publishing obscene material) of the Information Technology Act.
Where necessary, Section 69A (power to issue directions for blocking for public access of any information through any computer resource) of the IT Act will also be invoked to block content, he said.
Pawan Kalyan said that a dedicated taskforce will be established to coordinate with cybercrime police and other law enforcement agencies to ensure swift action against social media “crimes”.
He also reiterated his plans to introduce stronger legislation against social media abuse if existing laws were insufficient.
Pawan Kalyan’s announcement came a day after the arrest of YouTuber ‘Prashna’ Raavan over alleged derogatory remarks against the Deputy CM. An FIR was registered on a complaint from a Jana Sena worker over a speech made by Raavan, also known as Joseph, at a Dalit Christian public meeting in Eluru on June 28, where he criticised Pawan Kalyan for his alleged silence on atrocities against Dalits.
In April, stand-up comedians Anudeep Katikala and Rafiq were arrested by the Andhra Pradesh police based on complaints filed by Jana Sena Party workers over alleged offensive comments on Pawan Kalyan’s personal life.
More recently, senior journalist K Nageshwar was booked for his remarks on Pawan Kalyan’s political strategy, also based on complaints from Jana Sena workers.
At the time, Pawan Kalyan had claimed that on learning that the Andhra Pradesh police also intended to arrest Nageshwar, he stopped them out of respect for the journalist.
In his message, Pawan Kalyan said that freedom of speech wasn’t “absolute or unconditional.”
“Article 19(2) of the Indian Constitution places reasonable restrictions in the interest of the sovereignty and integrity of India, national security, public order, decency, morality, defamation, and preventing incitement to offences,” he said, adding, “Freedom of speech does not mean freedom to abuse.”
He said people had the right to criticise the government in a democracy, but “abusing someone, issuing death threats, spreading false allegations, targeting women, insulting religious beliefs, attacking someone’s dignity, or provoking violence are not protected under the Constitution.”
Pawan Kalyan said that misuse of social media had gone up in recent years. “Women are being targeted with unacceptable abuse. Even our gods and goddesses are being insulted with malicious intent,” he said.