2 arrested for Akbar hate post
Adilabad: Bhainsa town police on Friday evening arrested two young men for posting hate comments against MIM MLA Akbaruddin Owaisi on Facebook.
The accused have been identified as Brajesh Vyas, 34, and Navender Murari, 26, traders of old Bazaar Colony in Bhainsa.
They were booked under IPC Section 153A and the controversial 66A of the Information Technology Act. The Centre had rece-ntly issued an advisory making it mandatory for the permission of senior officials to be taken before anyone is arrested under Section 66A. The Supre-me Court is currently hearing a petition on the controversial provision.
Youth booked under IT Act
According to Bhainsa sub-divisional police officer Devidas Nagula, a police patrol come across the two youth on the road while they were operating a mobile in a suspicious manner. On interrogation, police found that they were browsing Facebook on the mobile and had posted hate comments against the MIM MLA Akbaruddin Owaisi. They seized the mobile and a laptop from the duo.
Bhainsa town police inspector K. Purushottam said, “The accused made vulgar comments against Owaisi on Facebook, in retaliation to his hate speech. They uploaded the comment through their mobile. Based on some information, we were keeping a watch on the streets and found them. We have booked a case and have arrested the two.”
“We have booked them under IPC Sections 153A/96 of the IT Act and 66A. We will be producing them in the court on Saturday,” he said, adding, they filed the case since the comments may lead to communal tensions.
Section 153A deals with promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, among other things. Section 66A deals with punishment for sending offensive messages through a communication service. This Section of the cyber law had become controversial following the arrest of two girls in Maharashtra for their comments on Facebook following the death of Shiv Sena leader Bal Thackeray.
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