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The Hyderabad Cyber Crime police have registered two cases against the India head of tech giant Meta, Arun Srinivas, and multiple social media users for posts criticising Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the recent student protests demanding the resignation of former Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, over the NEET paper leak issue.
Separate complaints were lodged on July 29 by two individuals, Aravind Reddy and Saikiran Goud, who is a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) worker.
The two complaints mentioned 27 reels posted on Instagram or Facebook, most of which were either unavailable in India or had been deleted as of July 31. One reel that was still available was posted on July 25, and showed a compilation of images from the protest in Pune, where protesters were seen holding up placards critical of PM Modi, Dharmendra Pradhan, and other BJP leaders.
Aravind Reddy’s complaint alleged that the posts featured morphed images of PM Modi in an “obscene, derogatory, and misleading manner.” It specifically mentions a visual showing PM Modi “wearing a bikini”, “fabricated intimate scenes depicting a lip kiss” with Dharmendra Pradhan, and an edited image portraying United States President Donald Trump “embracing Shri Narendra Modi from behind while both are depicted as nude.”
It said that these posts also garnered “obscene, vulgar, abusive, and derogatory comments.”
“Such content has the potential to mislead the public, spread misinformation, incite hatred or public unrest, outrage public decency, defame or insult the dignity of public figures, disturb public order, promote hostility among different sections of society,” the complaint said.
Saikiran’s complaint, which listed 20 reels, alleged that the derogatory content against PM Modi was “detrimental to the sovereignty, integrity, and public order of India.”
The cases have been registered under sections 66C (punishment for identity theft) and 67 (punishment for publishing or transmitting obscene material in electronic form) of the Information Technology Act, and sections 353(2) (statements conducing to public mischief) and 336(4) (forgery) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
