What an outrage! Hope sanity prevails at the high court level and the case is thrown out.
Cheers, Santosh On Friday, May 23, 2014 4:53 AM, Mayabhushan <mayabhus...@gmail.com> wrote: > > >Sign of things to come? > >Goa: Facebook user faces jail term for anti-Modi comments >by Mayabhushan Nagvenkar >May 23, 2014 08:53 IST >#BJP #Devu Chodankar #facebook #Goa #India #Lok Sabha #Narendra Modi >Panaji: Before Narendra Modi is sworn in as prime minister on 26 May, >a young shipbuilding professional may well be behind bars, for >slamming the now former Gujarat chief minister on Facebook during the >Lok Sabha election campaign. > >A trial court on Thursday rejected the anticipatory bail application >moved by Devu Chodankar, a shipbuilding diploma holder working in >Mumbai, clearing the way for his possible arrest, even as the police >want to probe if Chodankar had broader plans to "promote communal and >social disharmony" in Goa. > >During the run up to the Lok Sabha polls, Chodankar, in a post on >Goa+, a popular forum with over 47,000 members, had claimed that if >elected to power, Modi would unleash a 'holocaust'. He deleted his >post subsequently. > >However, justifying his post subsequently on another popular local >Facebook forum, Goa Speaks, Chodankar while apologising for his choice >of words had stood by the sum of his argument, calling it his crusade >against the "tyranny of fascists". > >He also claimed that some elitist right wing elements were in the >process of filing a first information report with the Goa Police's >Cyber Cell. The police came into the picture when former chairman of >the Confederation of Indian Industries Atul Pai Kane filed an FIR >against him in March this year under sections 153(A), 295(A) of the >Indian Penal Code (IPC) and section 125 of the People's Representation >Act and 66-A of the Information Technology Act. > >Some of the sections are non-bailable in nature. > >Kane in his complaint said Chodandkar had threatened Facebook users >from voting for the BJP in the Lok Sabha polls. Opposition parties at >that time had protested the FIR calling it an attempt by the BJP to >muzzle criticism. > >"The complaint is against Devu for making inflammatory statements and >trying to create communal disharmony, not comments against the BJP," >Kane had explained in his online post. > >Police, in their plea filed before the District and Sessions judge, >more than agreed with Kane and now want custodial interrogation of >Chodankar "for recovery of cyber forensic evidence at his instance" >and the motive of the crime. Critically, police inspector Rajesh Job >of the Cyber Cell in his say claims: "Custodial interrogation of the >accused is very much essential to find out any motive of a larger game >plan to promote communal and social disharmony in the state". > >Job claims that the delay in response by the Facebook legal cell >forced the investigating police to resort to alternate means to >confirm Chodankar's identity. Subsequently, two summons have already >been issued to Chodankar. Facebook is still abuzz with comments on the >incident. > >Writes Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Mumbai alumnus Dr Samir >Kelekar, who has been campaigning to drop police action against Devu >for his post. "No one is justifying what Devu wrote, but it is >draconian to put someone behind bars for a mere FB post which has had >no affect on the society-at-large," he says. Chodankar's legal counsel >Jatin Naik says the next step would be approach the High Court for >relief. > >Read more at: >http://www.firstpost.com/politics/goa-facebook-user-faces-jail-term-for-anti-modi-comments-1538499.html?utm_source=ref_article > > >
