Guwahati:
A man from Assam’s Dhekiajuli faces a police case for a ‘laughing emoji’ response to another man’s Facebook comment – about Kokrajhar district Deputy Commissioner Varnali Deka not wearing makeup.
The man – Amit Chakraborty – was summoned before the court in Kokrajhar, which is 273 km from his hometown – after a case was filed by Ms Deka. She accused him, and two other men, including the man who made the “no makeup” quip, of cyber-stalking and making sexually derogatory comments.
Mr Chakraborty had responded to one Naresh Barua’s comment about a photograph of Ms Deka with a ‘haha’, or a laughing emoji. Mr Barua had written, “No makeup today, ma’am?” to Ms Deka’s post.
Ms Deka had responded sharply to Naresh Barua’s post, saying, “Why is that your problem?”
The post led to a complaint, after which the case was registered at a Kokrajhar police station by Ms Deka. She accused Mr Chakraborty, Mr Barua, and a third man – Abdul Subur Choudhary.
Among the papers submitted to the court were screenshots of the exchange of posts between Ms Deka and the three accused. In one posts, she warned Mr Choudhary, “Please go through cyber stalking under Section 354D (of the Indian Penal Code). You are guilty under that and I’m lodging a complaint with the cyber cell. You should have focused on your work rather than stalking me.”
In another post (in which Mr Chakraborty was tagged), Ms Deka wrote, “It is a derogatory and sexually coloured remark. Refer Sec 354A. I’m lodging a complaint against you. You are guilty of aiding and…”
Speaking to reporters, Mr Chakraborty said, “I just reacted to a Facebook post… and for laughing, today I have to take bail. I don’t know that Varnali Deka is an IAS officer or a Deputy Commissioner.”
He said on January 23 the officer-in-charge of the Kokrajhar police station called him on the phone. “When I asked, ‘why will I come without any reason?’, he told me, ‘a case has been filed against you…'”
“When I asked for details, he didn’t tell me anything. After that, my friend, who is a lawyer, helped me to know more about the case. I can’t understand how an IAS officer found the time to take such extreme action over something so trivial,” he said.
“Just for my reaction, for a laughing emoji on Facebook, I have been harassed. I only reacted to a post by some Naresh Baruah… I don’t remember anything else about the case,” he added.
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