Thiruvananthapuram: Collectives of social media activists have accused the police of warning them against campaigning against chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan in the social media.
The Kerala CM also holds the home portfolio.
After the unwarranted policing triggered a row, state police chief Loknath Behera clarified that no such warning has been issued by the police.
Cyberspace activists' collectives allege that they have received a notice saying that the police would register a case against them for denigrating the CM on the social media.
Soon trolls came out against the warning. This comes close on the heels of the curbs imposed against government employees publicly reacting to issues through the social media, the activists said.
They have refused to retract and posted comments criticizing the chief minister too.
Trolls appeared even against the warning and soon the state police chief issued the clarification.
What the law says
As per the provisions of the IPC and IT Act, creation of fake profiles and making posts defaming a person and morphing pictures are offenses that would invite legal action.
On getting such complaints, the the IT Hi-Tech Inquiry Cell would probe and take action. The cell had received a complaint that a fake Facebook profile was created in the name of a journalist and it was used for denigrating the chief minister and also the journalist. A directive was issued to delete such posts.
The state police chief denied issuing any notice against trollers making comments against the chief minister.