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The Karti Chidamabaram guide to misusing the IT Act
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  • The Karti Chidamabaram guide to misusing the IT Act

The Karti Chidamabaram guide to misusing the IT Act

G Pramod Kumar • November 2, 2012, 15:56:35 IST
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The arrest of a Twitter user due to a complaint by Karti Chidambaram highlights not only the misuse of law but the problems within the IT Act as well.

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The Karti Chidamabaram guide to misusing the IT Act

One cannot hazard a guess as to what union finance minister P Chidambaram’s son Karti Chidamabaram must have thought when he sent an email to the Puducherry police asking for action against a Twitter user who said that he had “amassed more wealth than Vadra.” But the outcome of his complaint certainly couldn’t have been something that Karti would have liked. Of course, the police dragged Twitter user Ravi Srinivasan (@ravi_the_indian) out of his bed early morning on Thursday and showed him how small he was in front of Karti; however, what followed during the day was disastrous for the Congress leader’s son. In no time, Ravi Srinivasan became a national hero, and his tweet that offended Karti and compelled the police into action, was retweeted by 400 more people. Some unverified accounts claimed that the retweets were further retweeted and the message had gone viral. [caption id=“attachment_512658” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] ![](https://images.firstpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/KartiChidambaram_Firstpost1.jpg "KartiChidambaram_Firstpost") Has Karti Chidambaram’s action highlighted how the IT Act can be misused? Firstpost[/caption] Certainly, the tweet would have been seen and read by more than 400 people, given the outrage the police action had generated. In fact, some Twitter users even challenged the police to take action against them as well. Subramanian Swamy immediately offered Srinivasan legal aid and cartoonist Sudhir Tailang told him on national TV that people were with him. A small time businessman and occasional Twitter user, who had just 16 followers till yesterday - five of whom were his relatives - is now a newsmaker and a minor-celebrity, thanks to Karti and the overzealous Congress government in Puducherry. It’s not only Karti who catapulted Ravi into instant stardom, but also the draconian provisions of Section 66 (a) of the IT Act, the amendment brought in by the present UPA government in 2008. Free speech activists and internet experts had raised an alarm four years ago, when the government (read Congress) had pushed through with the amendment, for its unconstitutionality and conflict with the right of free speech guaranteed by Article 19 (1). The incident is a classic example of the misuse of the IT Act that activists have been crying foul about - that its provisions would be implemented selectively to intimidate and harass powerless people. These are the keywords that summarise the victimisation of Ravi Srinivasan as well: draconian and selective. Let’s first look at the law. According to Section 66 A (Punishment for sending offensive messages through communication service, etc), any person who sends, by means of a computer resource or a communication device, a) any information that is grossly offensive or has menacing character; or b) any information which he knows to be false, but for the purpose of causing annoyance, inconvenience, danger, obstruction, insult, injury, criminal intimidation, enmity, hatred, or ill will, persistently makes by making use of such computer resource or a communication device; or c) any electronic mail or electronic mail message for the purpose of causing annoyance or inconvenience or to deceive or to mislead the addressee or recipient about the origin of such messages shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years and with fine. (highlights are the author’s) Look at the highlighted words to see how legally flimsy and subjective some of the grounds for action are. In fact, it is extremely easy to charge one with sending or writing messages that are “offensive, menacing and causing annoyance, inconvenience or insult”. If the police is with you, you can press for three years in jail for the offender. If the same thing happens on paper and you pursue it as a crime, people will call you silly. These clever insertions are a perfect license for selective misuse. If you are influential, you choose to exercise this license, particularly when your opponent is a smaller. If you are a nobody, the police will ask you to take a walk. Information activists say that the police in various cities receive a large number of flimsy complaints, that are perfectly legal under Section 66 (a), but don’t care to file an FIR because they know the complainants are trying to settle scores. However, when the complainant is influential, say the son of a minister, they don’t mind dragging the accused out of bed. Now the question is, will Karti file complaints against all the 400 people who retweeted the original tweet? The message is the same and retweeting, even after the police action against the original tweet, should be a more willful offence. If he doesn’t go to police against these 400 people, isn’t it a case of selective (mis)use? The issue brings to focus two points: the need to repeal the draconian provisions of the IT act, particularly section 66; and the caution that people close to power need to exercise before brandishing authority to the general public. The prevailing mood in the country is middle-class outrage and the anger of the underdogs. By stoking it, politicians and their cronies will only attract more muck against them. No draconian law will be able prevent a civil disobedience movement on the internet as the retweet support to Ravi Srinivasan has demonstrated. Challenging and harassing “mango people” to prove a point betrays one’s arrogance and instinct to misuse authority. And it looks cheap too.

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