NEW DELHI: A Puducherry businessman, S Ravi, who was arrested and later released for posting 'offensive' messages on Twitter against Karti Chidambaram, son of Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram, said that he will not apologise for his tweets as he had referred to reports about Karti Chidambaram and Robert Vadra that were published in newspapers.
Incidentally, Ravi has only 18 followers on Twitter.
The Hindu quoted Ravi Srinivasan as saying: "My tweet refers to reports I read about Karti Chidambaram and Robert Vadra in the newspapers. It is not even my own opinion. I don't know what is defamatory about it."
"When I read the kind of tweets other people have written on corruption, I do not know why I am being targeted," Ravi said while speaking to the The Hindu.
The 45-year-old industrialist, S Ravi, owner of a plastic packaging material factory, had tweeted that Karti had amassed more wealth than Robert Vadra, son-in-law of Congress chief Sonia Gandhi.
In another tweet on October 19, he said "as a Tamilian" he felt "bad to have sent P Chidambaram to national politics".
This enraged Karti and the finance minister's son through an email complained to Puducherry IG Ranvirsingh Krushnaiyya about three such offensive posts and sought action against the person.
The CID tracked down Ravi through his Twitter account and arrested him under Section 66A of the Information Technology Act. He was produced before a local magistrate who released him on bail.
Section 66A says anyone found guilty of sending, by means of a computer resource or a communication device, any information that is grossly offensive or has a menacing character can be jailed for up to three years and fined.
The Act says that "Anyone found guilty of sending information which he knows to be false but still persists for the purpose of causing annoyance, inconvenience, danger, obstruction, insult, injury, criminal intimidation, enmity, hatred, or ill will by making use of such computer resource or a communication device can also be jailed under this section."
Ravi has been actively participating in events organized by the India Against Corruption (IAC) in Puducherry.
"Due to ignorance or knowingly, some netizens indulge in such harassment. If the victim gives a complaint to the police, they can be arrested. We need to create awareness about using the Internet with proper care," said K. Srinivasan, president of the Cyber Society of India. (Agencies)
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