"Kerala High Court Clarifies: Posting Manipulated Photos on Social Media Not an Offense Under Section 120(o) of Kerala Police Act"
In a recent ruling, the Kerala High Court has declared that posting manipulated photos on social media platforms such as Facebook (now known as Meta) does not constitute an offense under Section 120(o) of the Kerala Police Act. The case in question was Fr Geevarghese John's appeal against the Magistrate Court's decision to allow the registration of a case under this section.
Justice PV Kunhikrishnan emphasized that, to qualify as an offense, the accused must cause nuisance or harm to another individual through their posts. The Court expressed concerns that if it were to categorize all such Facebook posts as offenses under Section 120(o) of the Kerala Police Act, nearly every post on the platform would be implicated.
However, the Court did urge legislative consideration of the issue, particularly in light of the prevalence of defamatory posts on social media. The Court noted that there is currently a lack of adequate penalties for such defamatory statements and images circulating on platforms like Facebook and other social media outlets.
The case revolved around a Jacobite church priest accused of altering a photograph depicting a hunger strike by Orthodox church priests in 2017. The edited photo was then shared on Facebook (Meta), allegedly defaming the complainant and other Malankara Orthodox Church priests.
After a careful examination of the case and the provisions of the Kerala Police Act, the High Court determined that the manipulated photo in question did not meet the criteria for the alleged offense. Consequently, the High Court allowed the appeal and dismissed all proceedings pending before the Magistrate Court.
The petitioner was represented by advocates Abraham Samson and Lovely Samson, while the State Authorities and the complainant were represented by K Rakesh.
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TAGS: Kerala High Court Manipulated Photos Social Media Kerala Police Act Offense Section 120(o) Ruling Facebook (Meta) Defamatory Posts Legislative Consideration Jacobite Church Priest Hunger Strike Magistrate Court Quashed Proceedings.
