Palghar girls feel more has to be done

Palghar girls feel more has to be done

Sindhu MansukhaniUpdated: Saturday, June 01, 2019, 03:05 AM IST
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Mumbai :  As the Supreme Court struck down Section 66A of the Information Technology Act, which provided for the arrest of any person that posts “grossly offensive” content online, the Palghar girls, Rinu Srinivasan and Shaheen Dhada; and Alok Dixit – activist and friend of cartoonist Aseem Trivedi, who was also charged under this provision – welcomed the landmark judgement. They however, also added that this is only one of the many things that need to be changed with regards to freedom of expression in the country.

On November 19, 2012, Rinu and Shaheen, two young women, were arrested by the Palghar police because the latter had posted on Facebook a day earlier that the bandh in the city was a result of fear and not respect. The bandh was an aftermath of Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackarey’s demise on November 18. Over two years after the incident, Rinu has now become an audio engineer and is set to start internship in a private company based in Chennai.

“Although our arrests and whatever ensued was extremely traumatic, I will continue to stand by my thoughts and speak up against anything that I feel is wrong,” said Rinu. She also felt that the judgement came too late, and that it should have come two years ago when law student Shreya Singhal filed the first PIL seeking an amendment in the section, following the episode involving Rinu and Shaheen.

Shaheen’s life moved on too and she got married in January 2014 and shifted to Bangalore. Back in 2012, her uncle’s hospital in Palghar was vandalised by 30 to 40 unidentified persons, causing them a loss of Rs 15 to Rs 20 lakh. Her father Farooq, a businessman, while speaking to FPJ, also hailed the judgement but rued the fact that they never got compensation for the losses they suffered. “At that time support was offered to us by many sections, but once the issue died down, no one bothered to stand with us,” he said.

On the other hand, Dixit, a journalist turned social activist, said that although he is happy with the judgement he feels that it is only the first step towards ensuring freedom of expression. “The attempt to control the internet was started only because the government and the political class realised that it is one of the most powerful and effective mediums for people to voice their opinion. The gross misuse of section 66A by politicians will finally be stopped now,” he said.

On lawyer Amit Arvind Katarnavre’s complaint, Trivedi too was charged under section 66A of the cyber law and many other Acts by Mumbai police in 2012, after he allegedly posted “ugly and obscene” content on his web portal in 2011. He had also displayed the caricatures depicting the Parliament as a commode and the national emblem with wolves instead of lions during the India Against Corruption protest in December 2011 at the MMRDA grounds in Bandra Kurla Complex.

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