Even though the Supreme Court ruled Section 66A of the IT Act unconstitutional, citizens continue to be arrested for alleged objectionable and derogatory posts on various social media platforms, especially Facebook, under other sections of the Act and the Indian Penal Code (IPC). In the latest case, last week, two men have been arrested in Ballia, Uttar Pradesh (about 140 km east of Varanasi) for posting a video on Facebook and sharing the same on WhatsApp, with alleged derogatory remarks against the Prime Minister, UP Chief Minister and Hindu deities, reports The Wire. The report mentions that the case has been booked under Section 295A of the IPC, which pertains to "deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs", and the IT Act. In all, four people have been booked, but only two have been arrested thus far. This flagrant misuse of power is not restricted to one part of this country either. In October last year, a little over three months after a 17-year old boy was arrested for sharing an allegedly derogatory Facebook post, two men in Balurghat (about 400 km from Kolkata in North Bengal) were arrested for criticising the police over the sorry state of traffic blockades during the Durga Puja festivities, and the lack of availability of public transportation. WhatsApp arrests What's really worrying is that unlike Facebook, WhatsApp isn't a public facing platform, yet the number of arrests due to sharing content deemed objectionable on the messaging…
