14 DAY TRIAL // Free speech is subject to reasonable restrictions, at least according to Karti Chidambaram, the son of Chidambaram Palaniappan – current Union Minister of Finance and member of the Indian National Congress.
Karti Chidambaram has filed a complaint with the Inspector General of Police against 45-year-old business owner and volunteer with the India Against Corruption organization, Ravi Srinivasan.
Authorities arrested Srinivasan and accused him of violating Section 66-A of the Information Technology Act of 2008, which prohibits Internet users from sending messages that cause annoyance or inconvenience, or ones that might be considered offensive or menacing.
Those who break the law can be fined and they can face as many as three years in prison.
So, what did the man do to deserve this?
According to The Hindu, he twitted to his 16 Twitter followers saying that he “got reports that Karthick Chidambaram has amassed more wealth than Vadra.”
“Free speech is subject to reasonable restrictions. I have a right to seek constitutional/legal remedies over defamatory/scurrilous tweets,” Karti P. Chidambaram wrote on his Twitter account shortly after the incident.
Srinivasan told The Hindu that the tweet was based on news reports and it didn’t represent his own opinion. He believes that the incident might be related to the fact that he is part of India Against Corruption.
“Free speech is subject to reasonable restrictions” is a principle that’s adopted by numerous countries around the world.
For instance, in Philippines, a recent cybercrime law has raised a lot of controversy because of its libel section, heavily criticized for threatening Internet freedom.
That’s because this particular section allows actors, politicians, business tycoons and other controversial individuals to silence their online critics.
In the US, authorities paid a visit to a 16-year-old student after he had made a video about how the country was becoming a police state.