Five Booked for alleged defamatory posts against J P Hegde in Social media
Udupi: The Kundapur police in Udupi district on Friday, April 19, registered cases under the IPC and IT Act against five persons and one social media group on charges of spreading false information against the Congress candidate from Udupi-Chikkamagaluru Lok Sabha constituency K. Jayaprakash Hegde.
Udupi District Congress campaign committee president A. Harish Kini, in a statement here, said that Surendra Shetty of Sahana Estates submitted a complaint, and an FIR was registered under Sections 502 (2) of the Indian Penal Code and Sections 66 (C) and (D) of the Information Technology Act.
Sandeep Shetty, Prakash Handottu, Sanjeeth Kotyan, Vastava, and N. Gamskar, all said to be the BJP cadres and Kesari Brigade social media group are named as the accused, said Kini. The accused were attempting to spread hatred among communities through false messages, the complainant said.
The first five accused, through their Facebook accounts, have been posting messages on the Kesari Brigade group. The messages read, “Who is the Muslim police officer offering protection to the politician, to the killers of BJP worker Rajaram Servegar in 1995 at Brahmavar?” They also said appeasement politician “JP” (Jayaprakash Hegde) was not required. “The BJP supporting the Hindutva is our choice for the Udupi-Chikkamagaluru constituency,” the complainant said.
Complainant Surendra Shetty also said that the accused have been transmitting a video containing the photo of Late Servegar that defames Hegde. Such posting and transmission tend to create unrest in society on communal grounds and necessary action should be taken against the accused, the complainant demanded.
