Sandeep Bhalla Arrested for Posting a Morphed Picture of Sonia Gandhi on Facebook

On 2^nd July 2013 a youth, claiming to be a BJP activist was booked for posting a morphed picture of Ms. Sonia Gandhi on Facebook. The complaint was longed by Local Congress Leader Mr. Sanjay Sehgal.

Mr. Sanjay on Monday filled a report against Bhalla and approached the police commissioner online regarding this matter. Bhalla was charged under Section 66A of Information Technology Act.

Mr. Sehgal said,

“We have also sent a morphed image of Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi to the police that was uploaded by another BJP activist."

Bhalla is a residence of Jalandhar, India. BJP state president Kamal Sharma said that if his party members are found guilty then disciplinary action will be taken. If found guilty, this action could go against BJP in the next Lok Sabha elections.

Mr. Kamal says Bhalla is not a member of the party. He is just a supporter. BJP respects women and such incidents won’t be tolerated.

Section 66A of the IT Act is a relevant section which penalizes ‘sending false and offensive messages through communication services’. The section reads as under –

Any person who sends, by means of a computer resource or a communication device,—

(a) any information that is grossly offensive or has menacing character; or

(b) any information which he knows to be false, but for the purpose of causing annoyance, inconvenience, danger, obstruction, insult, injury, criminal intimidation, enmity, hatred or ill will, persistently by making use of such computer resource or a communication device,

(c) any electronic mail or electronic mail message for the purpose of causing annoyance or inconvenience or to deceive or to mislead the addressee or recipient about the origin of such messages,

shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years and with fine.