Non-bailable case registered against poet Srijato for his FB post "hurting religious feelings"
According to reports, based on a complaint lodged by a member of an apolitical organization Hindu Samhati- Arnab Sarkar, investigating officer (IO) of Siliguri Cyber Crime Police Station, Abhijit Saha, initiated the case in a local court.
"The case has been registered under cognizable and non-bailable IPC section 295A (Deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) and section 67 of Information Technology (IT) Act (Publishing or transmitting obscene material in electronic form)," a senior police official told IBNS.
A police source said that a legal notice under CrPC section 41 could be served to the Kolkata-based poet.
According to reports, IPC section 295A is a cognizable and non-bailable offence, which can prescribe three years imprisonment or fine or both to an offender.
Though no reaction has been received from Srijato on this matter so far, a source claimed that the poet could move to the Calcutta High Court to appeal for an anticipatory bail.
After Yogi Adityanath was selected as the Chief Minister of newly elected BJP-led government in Uttar Pradesh, poet Srijato wrote a poem and posted it on his Facebook wall on Sunday late evening.
Alleging that few stanzas of the poem are harmful for religious sentiment, Arnab Sarkar, a resident of Bagha Jatin Colony area under Pradhan Nagar Police Station limits in Siliguri city of north Bengal, on Monday lodged a complaint against Srijato Bandyopadhyay at Siliguri Metropolitan Police's Cyber Crime Section.
(Reporting by Deepayan Sinha)
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