Maharashtra police have booked a lawyer from Vasai in Mumbai, Adesh Bansode, for sharing a video of prominent YouTuber Dhruv Rathee in a WhatsApp group, The Indian Express reported. In the video, ‘Mind of a Dictator’, the YouTuber has criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Advocate Bansode shared the video in which PM Modi has been called a manipulator and a dictator in WhatsApp group named ‘Bar Association of Vasai’. He urged members to watch it before casting their votes during the Lok Sabha elections on May 20.
Bansode, who is also the Maharashtra secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation, shared the video with the message “Do watch the video before going to vote.”
According to the reports, on May 21, amid the fifth phase of polling for the Lok Sabha elections the Mira Bhayandar Vasai Virar (MBVV) police in Maharashtra filed a suo motu complaint and registered an FIR against advocate Bansode report based on a complaint by a head constable.
The FIR accused him of making ‘false statements’ about ongoing Lok Sabha election candidates and attempting to influence voters, thereby ‘violating the commissioner’s prohibitory orders’.
“The video shared by the accused and its message make a false statement about Lok Sabha election candidates and tries to influence voters, thus violating the prohibitory orders of the commissioner of police,” The Indian Express quoted the police report as saying.
However, on the other side, advocate Bansode denied the allegations and termed the FIR as illegal. He argued that the police had not followed due legal procedure before registering the FIR under Section 188 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for disobedience to an order duly promulgated by a public servant. According to CrPC Section 195, the police must obtain prior permission from the concerned court before registering an FIR under Section 188 of the IPC.
“The said video was watched, liked, and shared by crores of internet users. Would the police be lodging a case against all of them? I am protesting against the illegal FIR,” the lawyer said.
| Posted by Sayima Ahmad | 
