‘Objectionable’ posts against Nitish govt, officials now a crime

PATNA: A Bihar administrative order making it a cybercrime to post offensive, objectionable or critical content on social media against the state government, its ministers, officials, members of Parliament and members of the legislative assembly triggered a political row in the state on Friday, with critics describing it as an attempt to muzzle free speech.

The order was issued by additional director general (ADG) of the economic offences unit (EOU) Nayyar Husnain Khan on Thursday. Individuals and organisations who post such content will invite “appropriate action” under the law, the order said.

Khan said the EOU would lodge a first information report, after conducting an inquiry, under sections 409 (criminal breach of trust) , 420 (cheating and dishonesty) and 467 (forgery of valuable security) of the Indian Penal Code, and sections 64 (recovery of compensation), 65 (tampering with computer source documents) and 67 (publishing or transmitting obscene material in electronic form) of the Information Technology Act.

“The order seems to be an administrative direction which is vague and intended towards intimidation of the press and public that use social media demanding accountability of public administration,” said Apar Gupta, a trustee of the

Internet Freedom Foundation.

As a political slugfest ensued, the police clarified on Friday that “constructive criticism” wouldn’t fall afoul of the directive.

The directive, which was sent to all principal secretaries and secretaries, cited an increasing number of complaints against the trend of posting slanderous and offensive content on social media platforms against government ministers, officials, MPs and MLAs by individuals as well as organised entities.

Leader of the opposition in the assembly Tejashwi Prasad Yadav of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) attacked chief minister Nitish Kumar on Friday for the edict, comparing the Janata Dal (United), or JD(U), leader to Hitler. Yadav challenged the chief minister to arrest him, accusing Kumar of promoting corruption, patronising criminals and also alleging that Bihar Police was involved in the illegal sale of liquor in a dry state. Congress leader and member of the legislative council (MLC) Premchand Mishra said the directive showed that the state government was scared of criticism and called it an unacceptable violation of the right to freedom of speech.

The ruling JD(U) and its partner, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), defended the decision, claiming it would help in checking abusive social media posts against the government and its officials. Legal experts also questioned the purpose behind such an order.