Bombay HC seek police reply on action taken against objectionable material

A division bench of Justices Revati Mohite-Dere and Prithviraj K Chavan on September 19 was hearing pleas seeking action against the religious leader and registration of FIR under provisions of Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita (BNS) and sections 66-A and 67 A of the Information Technology Act for circulating videos hurting Muslim community’s feelings.

Earlier this month, the bench had asked the state police to consider transferring cases against Ramgiri Maharaj to the Cyber Police Station in Bandra-Kurla Complex to be supervised by senior police officers.

On Thursday, a police officer from Sinnar police station submitted that till date 67 cases have been registered with it including those transferred from other police stations including Nashik (Rural), Amravati City, Ahmednagar, Chandrapur, Thane, Nashik Rural, Jalgaon, Parbhani, Buldhana, Beed, Mumbai, Palghar etc.

He submitted that the Police have taken all the steps to remove objectionable material from the websites as and when it was pointed out to them. The Police added that notices have been issued to witnesses in the cases and statements of witnesses have been recorded, and appropriate action will be taken as per law against those circulating the said material.

The court then directed the Sinnar and Cyber police to file their affidavits in reply within three weeks giving details of the steps taken so far and posted further hearing to October 17.