Topics Covered: Challenges to internal security through communication networks, role of media and social networking sites in internal security challenges, basics of cyber security; money-laundering and its prevention.
Kerala’s new 118A law:
Context:
Kerala Government has introduced Section 118A in the Kerala Police Act, to penalise ‘offensive,’ ‘abusive,’ and ‘threatening’ social media posts.
- This has been introduced through the ordinance route.
According to the new law:
“Whoever makes, expresses, publishes or disseminates through any kind of mode of communication, any matter or subject for threatening, abusing, humiliating or defaming a person or class of persons, knowing it to be false and that causes injury to the mind, reputation or property of such person or class of persons or any other person in whom they have interest shall on conviction, be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years or with fine which may extend to ten thousand rupees or with both.”
- This means that a person can face three years in jail and a fine of Rs 10,000 for any social media post that is considered “offensive” or “defamatory”.
- This is not just for writing or creating such a post, but those who share that post or opinion will also face the same kind of punishment.
Need for:
A similar law was repealed by the Supreme Court in 2015 along with Section 66A of the IT Act — Section 118(d) of the Kerala Police Act — for being a threat to free speech.
- Therefore, this new law has been brought in to ‘fill the gap’ left by the repealing of the two laws, which leaves current laws ‘inadequate’ to prevent crimes online which have ‘caused considerable distress to the women in our society’ and cyber attacks that are ‘turning into a threat to privacy’.
Why is the law being criticised?
Experts have called this law as draconian because:
- It is being seen as an attempt to stifle not only dissent but also freedom of speech and expression.
- It has resurrected the “same legal vices” the Supreme Court had “trashed” by scrapping Section 66 A of the IT Act.
- The law is unspecific and indistinct and can be indiscriminately misused by individuals or even the government and the police, who may use it against those whom they simply disagree with.
- Though the Kerala government claims it is to fight cyber crimes against women, that has not found any mention in the law either.
- It restricts speech without any domain limitation, it restricts Article 19 of the Constitution in an active way and is not protected by Article 19(2).
- It will effectively be a DDOS attack (denial-of-service attack) on the police functioning on the state, as well as on the police. There will be a huge rush of FIRs filed against all kind of issues between people.
- It gives power to the police to file suo-motu cases against anyone.
Sources: the Hindu.
