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Across Indian states, citizens are being picked up by the police for unguarded comments on social media, and the arbitrariness of these arrests has created a climate of anxiety. In most cases to hit the news, those charged have been ordinary people, without the clout to incite mass violence. On November 2 2017, Meerut-based journalist <keyword id="5998011" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="afghan-soni">Afghan Soni</keyword> was charged with defamation and "computer-related offences" (Section 66 of the IT Act) for posting a "derogatory" video of <keyword id="6354477" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Narendra-Modi">Narendra Modi</keyword> asking a rally about " achhe din ", and getting his response not from a crowd of people, but a herd of goats. Social media arrests are not new, and nor are they a uniquely Indian form of repression. The UPA-era Section 66A of the IT Act, scrapped by the <keyword id="6354977" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Supreme-Court">Supreme Court</keyword> in 2015, was broadly worded enough to book you if you caused annoyance, inconvenience, insult or injury online. In 2012 and 2013, a girl from Palghar, Maharashtra was arrested for criticising <keyword id="6371377" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Bal-Thackeray">Bal Thackeray</keyword>'s state funeral on <keyword id="6354576" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Facebook">Facebook</keyword>, another girl for merely "liking" that comment; a professor from <keyword id="6354925" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Kolkata">Kolkata</keyword> was arrested for forwarding a cartoon about Mamata Banerjee; as was a man who tweeted about <keyword id="497730" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Karthi-Chidambaram">Karthi Chidambaram</keyword>'s disproportionate wealth. But now, even though Section 66A is gone, the muzzling of speech continues unabated. India, like every other country in the world, places reasonable fetters on free expression. These include a threat to public order, dangerously stirring up religious sensitivities, caste slurs, defamation, child pornography, and so on. Other sections of the IT Act, including clauses on obscenity and morphing, are being used to arrest people like in the case of morphing of images, which may be a concern when women are misrepresented, but by itself, a morphed image in a political caricature or piece of satire is not an illegal or criminal act. Similarly, lying and cussing are human activities that also exist online; they do not inherently deserve criminal sanction. Even rumours are not illegal by themselves, the CrPC should kick in only in instances where they might incite violence or have other criminal implications. WhatsApp is where these tensions are strongest. Given that the technology can be used to make trouble on a wide scale, the police has good reason to keep an eye on the platform. But increasingly, WhatsApp administrators have been booked even for harmless remarks. There's a trend of using Section 144 of the CrPC, which applies to unlawful assemblies, to WhatsApp discussions. Curious are the cases of Indore collector who invoked it to deter any conversation about demonetisation, or the Varanasi DM who said that any false content on a WhatsApp group which were treated grounds for arrest. These arrests create a chilling effect on speech and the likelihood of someone, somewhere, taking legal action constrains you to watch your words more than necessary. Rather than a lively, democratic public sphere, we could end up with the hushed, wary conversations of a police state.

A WhatsApp message could get you arrested in India

NEW DELHI: <keyword id="6355261" type="POSITION" weightage="40" keywordseo="Finance-minister">Finance minister</keyword> <keyword id="43940" type="PERSON" weightage="40" keywordseo="P-Chidambaram">P Chidambaram</keyword> has opted out of the <keyword id="6355187" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="40" keywordseo="Lok-Sabha">Lok Sabha</keyword> contest, with <keyword id="1575" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="Congress">Congress</keyword> announcing his son Karthi as the candidate from Sivaganga constituency in Tamil Nadu. Kirit Patel will take on BJP patriarch LK Advani in <keyword id="6356847" type="CITY" weightage="40" keywordseo="gandhinagar">Gandhinagar</keyword> in Gujarat. 
 The passing of baton in Sivaganga caps the intense speculation on <keyword id="6362104" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Chidambaram">Chidambaram</keyword>’s candidature in the wake of Congress’s bleak prospects in the state owing to its failure to find an ally. Congress fought the last two elections with DMK and reaped a rich tally, disproportionate to its weak organizational muscle in the state. 
 
The leg-up for the GenNext extends to another of the state’s political family. Mohan Kumaramangalam, son of former Union minister Rangarajan Kumaramangalam, is the rookie to contest from Salem. 
 In what may have the making of an interesting contest, Laxman Singh has been named from Vidisha to take on leader of opposition in Lok Sabha <keyword id="6355111" type="PERSON" weightage="40" keywordseo="Sushma-Swaraj">Sushma Swaraj</keyword> in Madhya Pradesh. Singh is a former MP and the brother of AICC general secretary <keyword id="43786" type="PERSON" weightage="40" keywordseo="Digvijay-Singh">Digvijay Singh</keyword>. 
 
Congress announced sitting MPs Ramesh Kumar and Mahabal Mishra from South Delhi and West Delhi, a decision which means that all seven party MPs from the capital would be taking the field in the Lok Sabha polls. 
 
The names of Kumar and Mishra were held back in the earlier list which gave the go ahead to five other MPs, raising the possibility of their being replaced. However, the party leadership has settled for the status quo, finding that any attempt to change the candidate would skew the caste balance it wants in its representation in the apital. 
 The reprieve for the two comes after Congress mulled possible options to sitting MPs. The <keyword id="447980" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="40" keywordseo="Central-Election-Committee">Central Election Committee</keyword> of the party had taken exception to the routine manner in which the MPs were recommended for renomination and had asked the Delhi managers to submit a panel of possible candidates. 
 
Union health minister and senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad would contest from Udhampur in Jammu and Kashmir. He replaces MP Lal Singh Chaudhary. 
 
Congress has also replaced Paranjayadityasinh Parmar from Panchmahals in Gujarat with Ramsingh Parmar. Paranjayaditya is the son-in-law of Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh and his nomination in the previous list of candidates had sparked unrest, leading to clarification from the state leadership that it was an oversight. 
 <keyword id="6364961" type="POSITION" weightage="40" keywordseo="Rajya-Sabha-MP">Rajya Sabha MP</keyword> and former union minister Mani Shankar Aiyer will contest from Mayiladuthurai that he represented in Lok Sabha before losing in 2009. 
 
Expelled JD(U) MP Purnmasi Ram will be the Congress candidate from Gopalganj reserved seat in Bihar. Also, Congress’s Tsering Samphel will contest from Ladakh seat in J&amp;K.

Running Scared? Chidambaram Opts Out Of Lok Sabha Battle, Congress Fields His Son

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A WhatsApp message could get you arrested in India

BI India Bureau

Running Scared? Chidambaram Opts Out Of Lok Sabha Battle, Congress Fields His Son

Times Of India

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