Supreme Court judgment on social media posts: “One cannot use social media to defame others”.

 

Supreme Court judgment on social media posts has come. The Supreme Court on Friday ruled that social media platforms cannot be used to insult others.

The Supreme Court has said that restraint on language should be used. The Supreme Court made the remarks while denying protection from the arrest of a college teacher in Uttar Pradesh.

The teacher has been accused of making offensive comments on Facebook against Union Minister Smriti Irani. A bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Hemant Gupta said people should take care of their language when criticizing or joking against anyone through social media.

Rejecting the anticipatory bail of Shahriar Ali, head professor of history at SRK College, UP, Firozabad, the bench said, "You cannot defame women like this."

You can’t just use social media to make yourself infamous. What kind of language is being used after all? There is also the language of criticism or ridicule. The Supreme Court has said that you cannot say anything.

According to the case, the police have filed a case against Union Minister Smriti Irani for posting obscene Facebook feeds against Shahriar Ali.

The professor has been charged under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Information and Technology Act.

Earlier in May, the Allahabad High Court rejected Ali's anticipatory bail, saying the accused had no right to relief as he was a senior teacher in the college.

The High Court further said that his social media posts would promote malice among different communities. Ali appealed to the Supreme The court without getting relief from the High Court.

During a hearing in the Supreme Court on Friday, veteran lawyer Bikash Singh appeared on behalf of the professor and claimed that his client's Facebook account had been hacked.

And as soon as he found out about this controversial post, he also posted an apology. In it, the bench questioned that it looks like this story was made up later.

The bench said, "You used the same account to apologize, but you said your account was hacked." It shows that you are still using that account.

The bench said is there any evidence that your account has been hacked? The bench said that we are not digesting your hack theory. The bench asked the professor to prove his innocence before the trial court. Final Supreme Court judgment on social media posts yet to come.