Justice Devan Ramachandran Photo credit: Thulasi Kakkat
The Kochi Cybercrime Police has registered a case against Kerala High Court Judge Devan Ramachandran based on a cyber attack complaint in his judgment directing local self-government body secretaries to ensure removal of unauthorized flags and hoardings in public places.
The case was registered on Friday (December 20, 2024) based on a petition filed by High Court lawyer and public activist Kulthur Jaisingh. Police under Indian Judicial Code (IJC) Sections 192 (incitement with intent to riot) and 356(2) (defamation) and Kerala Police Act Section 120(o) (by any communication, frequent or unsolicited or by anonymous calls, letters, writings, etc.) (even to the individual via nuisance, message, e-mail or messenger).
According to the first information, the unknown accused made a defamatory post on Facebook with the intention of defaming the judge and inciting riots regarding the verdict of Judge Ramachandran.
A team led by Kochi city assistant commissioner MK Murali is investigating the incident. Mr. Jaisingh had submitted an application to the state police chief and the Kochi cyber crime police. He said in the statement, ‘Attempting to discredit the judge for considering the application in the court fairly and giving a decision is a serious crime.
‘Fight the Cyberwarriors’
He said the petition was part of his legal fight against “cyberwarriors to defame the justice delivery system and its decisions”.
A bench of High Court judge Ramachandran had earlier this month directed local body secretaries to ensure that all unauthorized flags and boards put up in public places and on roads are removed within 10 days. The court has made it clear that the secretaries who do not remove the board and the flag will be held personally responsible and will be forced to collect fines from them.
He said that the role of the police is to identify those who keep illegal boards in public places. If not, it is time to take action against the police officers.
The court has ordered that boards, banners or hoardings without the knowledge of the printer should be considered illegal and after identifying them, necessary action should be taken against the person or organization that installed them.
published – Dec 21, 2024 04:42 pm IST