The Nitish Kumar government in Bihar has decided to take action against those spreading ‘offensive, misleading and/or threatening social media posts’ against any government officials. Nayyar Hasnain Khan, the state ADG of Economic Offenses Unit (EOU) and Cybercrime division, the nodal point for such crimes informed that such crimes would be brought under the category of cybercrime.
Action will be taken against individuals & orgs who will be found making objectionable, indecent and misleading comments against Govt, Ministers, MPs, MLAs and govt officials on social media. This qualifies as cybercrime: Nayyar Hasnain Khan, ADG of Economic Offences Wing#Bihar
— ANI (@ANI) January 22, 2021
Bihar ADG Nayyar Hasnain Khan wrote a letter to all secretaries of the state government, which read: “It has come to light that certain persons and organisations have been making defamatory and offensive comments on social media against the government, respected ministers, parliamentarians, legislators, and government officials. This is against prescribed law and comes under the category of cybercrime,” wrote Khan, requesting all officials to inform the Economic Offences Wing about such acts so that the perpetrators can be brought to justice.
Responding to IG Khan’s letter, Bihar leader of the Opposition Tejashwi Yadav slammed Nitish Kumar Government for its decision. He called the chief minister the “Bheeshm Pitamah” of the corrupt and the “protector of criminals”. He said that the CM himself is involved in at least 60 scams. The RJD leader then tweeted, daring the state government to arrest him for his post.
It is pertinent to note here that the Kerala Government had on November 22 last year, decided to amend the existing Kerala Police Act and incorporate a new section under which those found guilty of spreading offensive and threatening social media posts would be punished with a 5 years imprisonment and Rs 10,000 fine. However, in less than 24 hours, the Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan had taken a U-turn and said that the controversial Section 118A of the Kerala Police Act will not be implemented.
