Two women journalists held for social media trolling against T'gana CM granted bail

A local court on Monday granted bail to the managing director of an online news channel and its reporter after they were arrested for allegedly circulating defamatory content against the Congress government in Telangana and Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy on social media.

The court also said that Section 111 of BNS (organised crime) invoked by the police on the two women journalists does not attract at this stage.

The Hyderabad Cyber Crime Police on March 12 said they arrested P Revathi, also a journalist and managing director of the online news channel and B Sandhya, reporter in the news channel in connection with a case registered against them under relevant sections of IT Act and BNS for allegedly being involved in social media trolling against the Telangana government and the CM.

Both of them were sent to judicial remand and Revathi and Sandhya subsequently filed bail petitions.

The XII Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate on Monday allowed their bail pleas while dismissing the custody petition filed by the police.

The court granted them conditional bail. They were directed to furnish two sureties of Rs 25,000 each and deposit their passports. They were also directed to appear before the police every Monday and Friday for a period of 90 days.

Earlier, the court while remanding them in judicial custody on March 12, observed that the FIR and other relevant documents, prima-facie made a well founded accusation against the two accused for the offences under section 67 of the Information Technology Act and section 353 (2), 352 and 61 (2) of BNS.

However, the court in the remand order further noted "...the essential ingredients of section 111 of BNS does not attract at this stage as there is no involvement of the commission of offences involving monetary transactions and others mentioned under section 111 of BNS".

Revathi and Sandhya were accused of circulating a video on social media platforms with "derogatory and abusive" contents against the Telangana government and the chief minister. The video was allegedly shot in the office of BRS, police had earlier claimed.

The complainant, serving as the state secretary of the Congress Social Media Cell in Hyderabad, had stated that he came across an "abusive" video while browsing the internet on March 10.

The video, circulated on a micro-blogging site, featured a representative of the online news channel interviewing an unidentified person in a "provocative" manner, police had said.

During the interview, the unidentified person made "derogatory and abusive" remarks against the Telangana chief minister, clearly indicating a deliberate attempt by the channel to defame and spread false propaganda, police said.

Furthermore, the user of the micro-blogging site, was actively circulating and amplifying the video, making it viral, the complainant said.

Based on the complaint, the police registered a case and claimed that the online channel was found responsible for shooting of the video and its circulation widely on the social media.