Legislature Should Bring Proper Punishment For Defamatory Posts In This Era Of 'Social Media Mania': Kerala High Court

The Kerala High Court has observed that there is no proper legislation providing punishment for defamatory posts circulated on social media. Bench of Justice PV Kunhikrishnan thus urged the legislature to seriously look into this aspect.The order stated,“Defamatory Facebook posts continue to do the rounds on Facebook and other Social Media platforms. There is no proper punishment for such defamatory statements and posters on Facebook. The legislature must look into this aspect seriously, especially in the backdrop of this new era of technology and Social Media mania in existence in our society.”The observations come in a plea seeking to quash proceedings initiated against a Christian priest for allegedly manipulating a banner displayed by the rival faction during one of their protests and posting it on Facebook. He was booked under Section 120(o) of the Kerala Police Act. The provision states that a person shall be convicted if he causes nuisance to any other person through any means of communication like repeated or undesirable or anonymous call, letter, writing, message, e-mail or through a messenger.Court said if it holds impugned Facebook post amounts to an offence, then "almost all posts made on Facebook is to be declared as an offence under Section 120(o) of the Kerala Police Act.”It relied on Sajeev S v. State of Kerala (2023) where scope of Section 120(o) was considered by the High Court and it was held that there was no nuisance caused by posting a modified word in a WhatsApp group. Therein, the Court found that the modified word was not defamatory, nor it was a word which has a tendency to cause nuisance. “After perusing the Facebook post, the complaint as well as the final report, I am of the considered opinion that this would not come within the purview of Section 120(o) of the Kerala Police Act, 2011,” Court thus held and quashed the criminal proceedings against the accused.Counsel for the Petitioner: Advocates Abraham Samson and Lovely SamsonCounsel for the respondents: Advocate K Rakesh and Public Prosecutor Vipin NarayanCitation: 2023 LiveLaw (Ker) 490Case title: Fr Geevargese John @ Subin John V State of KeralaCase number: Crl.M.C. No. 1242 of 2018Click Here To Download/Read Order

Legislature Should Bring Proper Punishment For Defamatory Posts In This Era Of 'Social Media Mania': Kerala High Court

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