Dadha’s Facebook post said: “People like Thackeray are born and die daily and one should not observe bandh for that. We should remember Bhagat Singh and Sukhdev, two martyrs of India’s independence struggle.”

Her friend Renu Srinivasan had “liked” the Facebook posting. Both were arrested by the police and accused of hurting religious sentiments and for sending offensive messages through a computer resource.

IT Minister Kapil Sibal had said he was “deeply saddened” by the arrests, and that the IT Act should not be “misused” to “throttle dissent”.

The girls were arrested under provisions of the Indian Penal Code for ‘hurting religious sentiments’ and under provisions of the IT Act that calls for ‘punishment’ for sending offensive messages through communication service by means of a  computer resource or a communication device, Thane police said.

The junior IT Minister in the central government, Milind Deora, also a Mumbai-based politician, has expressed displeasure at the arrest of the two girls.

“I think the police grossly overreacted. I don’t think what they posted on Facebook  warrants them to be booked either under the provisions of the IT Act, or under the far more draconian sections of Indian Penal Code,” Deora told reporters.

Officials in the IT ministry in New Delhi admit that certain provisions in the Information Technology Act - that prohibits passing of information or comments which could be considered ‘causing annoyance, inconvenience, danger, obstruction, insult and injury and spread enmity and hatred’ are held “controversial”. In fact, they are already being debated and also challenged in courts.

In fact, the MoS IT, Deora said that the government was open for necessary changes in the IT Act. “These are all in public domain. We are open to suggestions including from opposition parties and civil society. If there is something that can help us plug these loopholes to prevent them getting misused”.

A local court had ordered the two girls to spend 14 days in jail, but they were later released on bail. The women have since deactivated their Facebook accounts and Dadha apologized for posting the comments and withdrew them.

66A.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 by making use of such computer resource or a communication device, (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. Provison of IPC 505 under which the girls were booked Whoever makes, publishes or circulates any statement or report containing rumour or alarming news with intent to create or promote, or which is likely to create or promote, on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, caste or community or any other ground whatsoever, feelings of enmity, hatred or ill-will between different reli­gious, racial, language or regional groups or castes or communi­ties, shall be punished with imprisonment which may extend to three years, or with fine, or with both.

However, their arrests drew instant protests on social media networks and other media channels. The Press Council of India chairperson Justice (Retd) Markandey Katju urged Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan to suspend the official responsible for the arrests.

Following the large scale protest over the arrest on flimsy ground and the sustained pressure, the Maharashtra Director General of Police Sanjeev Dayal ordered a probe.

Shiv Sena, however, had justified the arrests with its leader Sanjay Raut saying the police action helped avoid a serious law and order situation in Mumbai.

The inquiry report filed by Inspector General (Konkan Range) Sukhvindar Singh said that sections applied in the case were not justified.

Activist-turned-politician Arvind Kejriwal who said, "Police officers who arrested the two girls in Mumbai should be immediately dismissed. That's minimum that the govt ought to do."

Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut "We support the police's action...The Facebook comments could have led to a law and order situation."

The confidential report submitted to the DGP office has also recommended departmental action against the erring cops. The Maharashtra government has subsequently promised action on the recommendation of the inquiry report.

Earlier in September in the northern city of Chandigarh, one girl was arrested for allegedly posting abusive comments on Chandigarh traffic police’s Facebook page.

In the southern state of Tamil Nadu, a public interest litigation petition has been filed in the Madras High Court challenging the constitutional validity of ‘Section 66A’ of the Information Technology Act under which a Puducherry-based India Against Corruption volunteer Ravi Srinivasan was booked for having tweeted against Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram’s son Karti.

The petition alleges that the section posed a grave threat to freedom of online communication.

In April 2012 in West Bengal, a Jadavpur University chemistry professor was arrested on for ‘circulating’ a picture spoof on Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee and the then Railway Minister Mukul Roy. The charge against the professor, Ambikesh Mahapatra, was  that he had sent ‘emails’ with the spoof, parodying  Satyajit Ray’s popular movie, ‘Sonar Kella’ (The Golden Fortress).

The spoof showed Mukul Roy describing Dinesh Trivedi as ‘wicked man’ while Mamata Banerjee ‘vanishing’ Trivedi.
Defending the police action, Bengal transport minister Madan Mitra had said rather tongue-in-cheek, “the e-mail was in bad taste. Jadavpur University is becoming a hotbed of Maoists under the guise of academics”.

Last year, the IT Minister Kapil Sibal had also made attempt to ‘regulate’ the social networking sites.

Swati Deb