Pune: Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday admitted in the assembly an increase in defamatory content uploads on social media to target individuals and said a committeewould be constituted under the director-general of police for recommendations to strengthen the existing laws.The issue came up for discussion in the assembly when BJP MLA from Daund, Rahul Kool, shared his own experience of being targeted on social media recently. “Some fake accounts have been opened to target and defame certain individuals. I have personally experienced it. Freedom of expression is everyone’s right and no one should be targeted for expressing his/her opinion. It is the responsibility of the govt to protect the freedom of expression of every citizen,” Kool said in the assembly.Kool, along with some other MLAs, demanded that the state govt should take legal steps to prevent such misuse of social media. Responding to the MLAs’ question, Fadnavis, who also holds the home portfolio, admitted that the misuse of social media platforms to defame individuals had increased. “Contents are being uploaded on social media without any evidence to defame individuals. People from all sections of society, especially women, are targeted on social media,” Fadnavis said.The chief minister announced the constitution of a committee to study the issue and recommend possible amendments in the existing laws to strengthen them further. “The committee headed by the director-general of police will check the possibility of amending the existing laws to take stricter action against those involved in posting defamatory content on social media. Based on its recommendations, the govt will take further steps,” Fadnavis said.Assembly speaker Rahul Narwekar suggested the govt to explore if the law could be amended to arrest the person misusing the social media to defame individuals. He said, “Earlier there was a provision under Section 66 (A) of the Information Technology Act to arrest a person posting defamatory content online. The provision was later removed. Considering the spike in such incidents, I suggest the govt check if such provision can be brought back in the act.“Replying to the speaker, Fadnavis said, “Earlier, we applied relevant sections of the erstwhile IPC or the existing BNSS with the IT Act, but that is not possible now. Therefore, some legal intervention is needed and the committee will take all such suggestions into consideration while submitting its recommendations to the govt.”
