A man from Chandrapur in Maharashtra was arrested for posting “offensive” posts against Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and Union minister Smriti Irani on social media on August 25.
The cops arrested Baliraj Dhote who runs a “self-respect movement” after the Bharatiya Janata Party’s IT cell filed a complaint against him, The Indian Express reported. He was arrested in the early hours of Sunday amid high drama when the police locked him in his home to prevent him from escaping.
The police have charged him under sections 354 1(iv) (sexual harassment) and 505(2) (public mischief to inciting people against each other) of the Indian Penal Code and Section 67 of the Information Technology Act (transmitting sexually explicit matter). He has been sent to magisterial custody.
“We have arrested him under the above sections because he posted offensive and obscene content on both WhatsApp and Facebook,” the Superintendent of Police Maheshwar Reddy told The Indian Express.
The man had posted contents that showed PM Modi and Union minister Smriti Irani in a bad light which created disquiet in the city and posed a threat to the peace of the city, Reddy added.
BJP IT cell has also filed a separate complaint against Dhote for posting about an ambulance of the state minister for Finance and Forest Sudhir Mungantiwar and alleging that the same was used to smuggle liquor to the Chandrapur district.
The saffron party’s women wing accused him of defamation for posting morphed pictures of Irani and Modi on Whatsapp. Women leaders, along with the mayor of Chandrapur Municipal Corporation Anjali Ghotekar, burned Dhote’s effigy at the city’s Gandhi Chowk.
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