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The Kerala High Court bench comprising Justice Raja Vijayraghavan observed that social media platform cannot be exploited for purposes of online baiting while dismissing an anticipatory bail plea by a politician accused of online sexual harassment belonging to the youth wing of the Democratic Kerala Congress. The accusations against the accused include offenses committed under Section 354(A)(3) of the IPC, Section 67(A) of the Information Technology Act, 2000 and Section 120 of the Kerala Police Act, 2011.
The de facto complainant, who is a social activist and the wife of an MP had recently published a book alleging sexual misbehavior towards her by a youth leader of a political party. Subsequently, several photos of her with her husband with sexually explicit and derogatory comments started surfacing on Facebook. The applicant was accused of initiating such actions and endorsing the same by the way of liking, commenting and sharing of such posts. He was further accused of posting libelous content on his page targeting the reputation and image of the de facto complainant. Justifying the same, the applicant revealed that the content of victim’s own book regarding sexual abuse had garnered much attention online and in print media and he was merely a part of the discussions with no malicious intentions whatsoever. He further denied the application of S.67 of the IT Act in said case. The court rejecting these arguments observed that the de facto complainant had been subjected to gross online sexual harassment by the accused who had been posting tarnishing content involving subjects of raping, immorality, masturbation on the public domain since quite some time. The court further remarked that whether the offense would fall under the domain of Section 67A of the IT Act is yet to be determined by the investigating officers in the due course of the investigation.
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