Do we have right to write and share anything on social media? Or there should be some kind of censorship? If there should be censorship, then what kind of censorship and who would ensure this?
An engineering college student in Bengaluru has been charged for writing an offensive comment against South Indians on his Facebook account. He moved to the Karnataka High Court to quash the case against him but the HC refuses the plea and said he has to face the trial. The court further added that the case was registered in lower court so it is for the lower court to decide whether his comments constitute an offense or not.
Pritish Kumar Patil, 22, the accused is an engineering student from Maharashtra. The case if filed against him under Section 505 of the IPC for “statements conducting to public mischief”. The complaint was filed by Sandeep Parswanath, president of the Samanya Kannadiga, a Kannada organization. The case is pending before the VIII Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate.
After a severe backlashing he was forced to retract his statements and apologize for the comments he made earlier this year. However, a police complaint against him has resulted in the case.
While, refusing to quash the proceedings in the lower court, the HC in its order on December 6, said: “The content of the post which the petitioner (Patil) is said to have placed on his Facebook account, is the subject matter of the complaint by a Trust which is supposedly working for the betterment of the Kannada language. Therefore, the offense alleged could be made out with reference to the statement in the post and is to be tested at the trial. There is no warrant for quashing the proceedings.”
The Facebook post was against a BMTC bus conductor for conversing only in Kannada. Following suggestions by local people, the post was altered to remove the offensive lines.
The fuel to this was added by one of his comments about ‘south Indians’ not learning Hindi and English but asking outsiders to learn their language.
After this, he was trolled and his personal information and address was widely shared online. To calm the situation he even issued an apology letter.
This is not the first time after a Facebook post someone is facing a legal action. In the past, there have been many cases in which accused even faced a jail term.
An engineering college student in Bengaluru has been charged for writing an offensive comment against South Indians on his Facebook account. He moved to the Karnataka High Court to quash the case against him but the HC refuses the plea and said he has to face the trial. The court further added that the case was registered in lower court so it is for the lower court to decide whether his comments constitute an offense or not.
Pritish Kumar Patil, 22, the accused is an engineering student from Maharashtra. The case if filed against him under Section 505 of the IPC for “statements conducting to public mischief”. The complaint was filed by Sandeep Parswanath, president of the Samanya Kannadiga, a Kannada organization. The case is pending before the VIII Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate.
After a severe backlashing he was forced to retract his statements and apologize for the comments he made earlier this year. However, a police complaint against him has resulted in the case.
While, refusing to quash the proceedings in the lower court, the HC in its order on December 6, said: “The content of the post which the petitioner (Patil) is said to have placed on his Facebook account, is the subject matter of the complaint by a Trust which is supposedly working for the betterment of the Kannada language. Therefore, the offense alleged could be made out with reference to the statement in the post and is to be tested at the trial. There is no warrant for quashing the proceedings.”
The Facebook post was against a BMTC bus conductor for conversing only in Kannada. Following suggestions by local people, the post was altered to remove the offensive lines.
The fuel to this was added by one of his comments about ‘south Indians’ not learning Hindi and English but asking outsiders to learn their language.
After this, he was trolled and his personal information and address was widely shared online. To calm the situation he even issued an apology letter.
This is not the first time after a Facebook post someone is facing a legal action. In the past, there have been many cases in which accused even faced a jail term.