A woman in India’s Facebook status has landed her and her friend behind bars after her friend “liked” the post that was critical of a powerful politician.
The woman who posted the Facebook status was merely 21-years-old, a college student trying to express herself via the Internet and it may have landed her and her friend behind bars for almost ten years.
Shaheen Dhada posted, “Respect is earned, not given and definitely not forced. Today Mumbai shuts down due to fear and not due to respect.”
Shortly after posting the status, her friend clicked the “like” button and suddenly she was just as guilty as Mrs. Dhada.
So who was the man she was talking about in the post? Bal Thackeray is a powerful Hindu fundamentalist who passed away Saturday and has been linked to much mob violence throughout the region.
CBS News reported that the streets of Mumbai were closed and the entire city “shut down” for Thackeray’s funeral over the weekend.
Both women were arrested, but shortly after released on bail Monday.
The Facebook like arrest has several analysts and media specialist up in arms and even the political party that was criticized doesn’t see eye to eye with the police for throwing the girls in jail.
“We are living in a democracy, not a fascist dictatorship,” said Markandey Katju, a former Supreme Court justice who is currently the head of the Press Council in India. He wrote a strongly worded letter to in protest to the chief minister of Maharashtra.
Katju went on to say that the officers behind the arrest should be suspended.
Dhada appeared on TV Tuesday and was visibly shaken by the ordeal and promised she would never post such things on Facebook again.
The Facebook post didn’t just affect her and her friend. After the post was publicized a group of Thackeray supports vandalized her uncle’s clinic, causing over $36,000 in damage. Now that the girls are out from behind bars on bail, she is concerned of what angry supporters may come after her.
As for Mrs. Dhada’s friend, she is sticking to her story that it shouldn’t have been a crime in the first place.
“It was not a crime,” said Renu Srinivas, the young girl who was arrested simply for clicking a button on her friend’s status.
Both women have deactivated their Facebook accounts since the arrest and have publicly apologized for what the status said – despite the fact that the status was not actually out of line and simply expressed the young college student’s opinion of the political leader.
Despite the fact that India also operates under what is supposed to be freedom of speech, the girls face three different charges – all of which can be punishable by up to three years in prison.
The lawyer representing both women revealed that they were charged for creating enmity and hatred, using online speech that is “grossly offensive or of menacing character,” and insulting religious feelings or beliefs.
Unfortunately, their arrests are not the first of it’s kind in India as the country is experiencing much controversy over freedom of expression and a freedom of speech.
New information technology laws were put in place that the people believe have been used simply as a tool to harass the people of India.
Earlier this year a woman was arrested for posting on her page that the Chandigarh police weren’t doing enough to find her stolen car. Another man was arrested for posting a political cartoon that protested corruption and scandals by the central government. Even more shocking, a Kolkata professor was taken into custody after he did nothing more than forward an email with a political cartoon that poked fun of the West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee.
“The current law does not have sufficient safeguards for privacy and freedom of speech and the law is being used as a tool of harassment,” said Pranesh Prakash of the Center of Internet and Society in Bangalore.
Mr. Katju insists that the arrest was a “criminal act since… it is a crime to wrongfully arrest or wrongfully confine someone who has committed no crime.”
The girls are still out on bail, but so far no decision has been made to drop the case.
