Kerala govt puts on hold Ordinance to curb abusive content

NEW DELHI: The Kerala government said on Monday that it will not enact its ordinance which sought to empower the police to prosecute persons who posted online content that could be seen as abusive or defamatory, changing its stance in the face of widespread criticism.

Chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan said many people had raised apprehensions about the recent revision to the Kerala Police Act, 2011, after which the government decided to have a discussion on it in the assembly before implementing it.

The about-turn came after the CM spoke with members of the CPI(M) state secretariat and the Left Democratic Front (LDF), said people aware of the matter.


The LDF-led government had come under strong criticism from opposition parties, journalists and civil rights activists for promulgating a law that allegedly endangered freedom of speech. Government officials had said the misuse of social media for abusing women had necessitated the law but concerns raised by those within the Left parties pushed the government to go back on its decision.

In the state, both the Congress and the BJP opposed Section 118-A, which was recently inserted into the Act. The amendment, considered the most stringent of all clauses, proposed three years of imprisonment and a fine of up to Rs 10,000 for those convicted of “producing, publishing or disseminating derogatory” content online.

Activists were most concerned that the ordinance did not mention social media posts and gave too much power to subjective interpretation of the police. The amendment also granted the police the power to examine social media posts and take action without even a complaint. The opposition had alleged that six months before the assembly polls this was a move by the state government to silence critics.

Congress leaders Ramesh Chennithala, Mullapally Ramachandran and United Democratic Front (UDF) convener MM Hassan staged a sit-in protest on Monday in front of the secretariat while BJP state president K Surendran moved the high court against the amendment. The amendment had brought back Section 66 A of the IT Act, trashed by the Supreme Court, in a brutal form, the parties alleged.

The LDF government is likely to let the ordinance lapse, said officials.