Editor’s Pick: Bihar’s move against ‘offensive’ posts

(The Editor's Pick is a new newsletter from The Hindu that provides a snapshot of the most important stories from today's edition of our newspaper, along with a note from our top editors on why we chose to give prominence to these stories.)

The Nitish Kumar-led government wants to get tough on its critics by using the cyber-crime law to deter individuals and organisations from making ‘offensive comments’ against the government, its officials, Ministers, MPs and MLAs.

“It has regularly been coming to light that certain persons and organisations have been making offensive comments through social media and the Internet against government, honourable ministers, MPs, MLAs and government officials as well, which is against prescribed law and comes under cyber crime laws. For this act, it seems appropriate to take action against such organisations and individuals,” Nayyar Hasnain Khan, Inspector General of Police (IGP), Economic Offences Wing, which also handles cyber crimes, said in a letter written on January 21 to all Principal Secretaries and Secretaries of departments.

Later, however, the State police rushed to issue a clarification, saying that “constructive criticism’ is welcome and only those posts on social media which spread rumours and use offensive and defamatory language would be targeted under relevant cyber laws”. The language used, it said, must fall within ‘the norms of decency’ for it not to invite criminal charges.

Since assuming the chief ministership for the seventh time, Mr Kumar has had several outbursts against social media posts and other comments by opposition leaders like the RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav, which are allegedly defamatory and intended to run a campaign of disinformation against his government. The new move by the Bihar government does raise broader questions about state governments having the power to selectively interpret the provisions of the IT Act and frame offences using terms such as ‘offensive’ which are vague and open to interpretation. These were grounds on which the draconian Section 66A of the IT Act, which made posting ‘offensive’ comments online punishable by jail, was struck down by the Supreme Court in 2015. No comprehensive legislation on online speech has replaced it however, and the spectre of misuse by state authorities still remains. The larger structural problems that this story raises makes it the top pick of the day.

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