Kerala High Court Directs Removal Of Offensive Facebook Post Of Ex-Judge Against Asianet News Editor

The Kerala High Court yesterday ordered the removal of the offending Facebook post made by former sub-court judge S Sudeep against the Executive Editor of Asianet News Network Sindhu Sooryakumar. The said post was made on July 03, 2023. Justice Mohammed Nias C.P. admitted the case and passed an interim order directing the State Police authorities and Meta Platforms Inc (parent company of Facebook) to remove and to prevent further circulation of the Facebook post. “Respondents 1 to 3 will take such steps to ensure that the post in question is removed forthwith and also prevent any further circulation of the said post and a compliance report in that regard shall be filed before this Court on or before 23/11/2023.”The Court passed the above interim order in a writ petition filed by Mrs Sooryakumar for the removal of the impugned Facebook post against her. The petitioner submitted that the impugned Facebook post amounted to cyberstalking and that it was posted to torture, harass and intimidate her. She submitted that the said post was widely viewed and commented upon and termed it as ‘Virtual Rape’ on her. Sooryakumar filed a complaint against Mr Sudeep under Section 354 A(1)(iv) IPC (making sexually coloured remarks) and Section 67 (punishment for publishing or transmitting obscene material in electronic form) of the Information Technology Act, 2000. It was submitted that despite preferring the complaint, the post was not removed. Aggrieved by this, she approached the High Court seeking for the removal of the post. The Counsel for the petitioner submitted that the Facebook post was an intrusion into her digital privacy and violated her right to privacy and the right to have a dignified life. It was submitted that the damage caused by social media was higher as it was instantaneous, viral and more potent than the traditional media. It was submitted that allowing to continue the impugned post forever on Facebook was also violative of her right to be forgotten. It was also argued that Sudeep was acting from a position of misogyny and patriarchy and was trying to defame Sooryakumar. The petitioner thus sought the removal of the Facebook post from all social media platforms of Sudeep as an interim relief. Accordingly, the Court ordered the removal of the post.The matter has been posted for further consideration on November 24, 2023. The petitioner was represented by Advocates V.V.Nandagopal Nambiar, Preeja. P.Vijayan, Smitha (Ezhupunna) and Chitra Johnson

Kerala High Court Directs Removal Of Offensive Facebook Post Of Ex-Judge Against Asianet News Editor

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