Narendra Modi as a dog tweet investigated by police

INDIA - Police in Mumbai have registered a criminal case against a comedian for tweeting a picture of the Indian prime minister Narendra Modi modified by Snapchat’s popular dog filter. Tanmay Bhat, the co-founder of comedy group All-India Bakchod, tweeted the image on Wednesday with the hashtag #wanderlust, an apparent jibe at Modi’s propensity for foreign visits. He later deleted it after intense criticism from supporters of the Hindu nationalist leader. Police told New Delhi Television on Friday that after “due legal consultation” they were commencing a criminal investigation into the tweet, on possible charges of defamation and of “publishing and transmitting material which is lascivious or appeal[s] to the prurient interests”. The latter offence carries a maximum penalty of three years in jail or a 500,000-rupee fine, but such matters rarely proceed to trial in India’s overburdened legal system, where cases can linger for up two decades. The dog filter on Snapchat, which has about 4m users in India, superimposes the animal’s ears and a nose on the subject of a image. One supreme court lawyer said the effect of filing the cases was instead to “legally harass” the accused. Bhat defended the troupe’s style of comedy, which has frequently drawn official scrutiny for allegedly insulting religious sentiments and using obscene language. A series of comedy “roasts” held by All-India Bakchod three years ago led to at least 14 criminal cases being registered against the members of the group and guests. The announcement of the investigation was widely discussed on social media on yesterday, with some women contrasting the authorities’ swift action against the tweet with the apathy they claim often greets complaints of sexual harassment and trolling.

(Theguardian.com)