Despite the Supreme Court, quashing Section 66(A) of the IT Act, which allowed police to arrest a person for posting any “objectionable content” on the internet, the MP police arrested a 19-year-old engineering student for a social media post criticizing the centre’s demonetisation policy and attacking chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and the BJP on the issue.
Abhishek Mishra, who has a sizeable following on Twitter and on other social networks, and calls himself an RTI activist and video maker, was reportedly picked up by the police on November 11. Police said they deleted all his tweets and Facebook posts, and also blocked his website, although they failed to disclose the exact complaint against Abhishek.
According to Abhishek’s lawyer, Ajay Mishra, his client had shared the news published by a paper that the police had seized money from the car of a BJP leader in Hoshangabad district, which led to the complaint against him.
