All through her several regimes, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa has attained notoriety for filing defamation cases against the media and the opposition. But even as the CM remains confined to a room in the critical care unit of the Apollo Hospital in Chennai, a team of IT warriors working in the realm of social media are holding fort for her.
The cyber warriors of the AIADMK are scouring the web continuously, in search of posts spreading ‘rumours’ on Jayalalithaa’s health.
The eight-member IT wing of the AIADMK works out of the party’s main office at Chennai’s Avvai Shanmugam Salai. The young team controls 700 members spread across various districts in the state, all of them usually aged below 35. These people are the eyes and ears of the AIADMK on the internet, and have been tracking down people posting messages speculating on Amma’s health. This team then files a complaint with the police.
So far, at least seven people have been arrested and more than 50 cases have been filed against people for spreading messages that can allegedly create panic among the public. Most of the arrested were either accused of spreading rumours or mocking the CM.
Most of the cases have been filed under section 153 of the IPC (wantonly giving provocation with intent to cause riot); or section 505 (1) that deals with “whoever makes, publishes or circulates any statements, rumour or reports”; and 505 (1) (b) (intent to cause or which is likely to cause, fear or alarm to the public).
Lawyers, especially those who are not aligned with the present dispensation, are livid that these laws are being used.
It is very unfair to book and arrest people under these sections. The operative part in these laws is the intention to cause violence. That was not the intention here. The reason these rumours emerge is that there is very little official information about Jayalalithaa. She is a big leader so people will be worried. However, some of the rumours are in bad taste.A Saravanan, advocate and spokesperson of the DMK
AIADMK IT wing secretary G Ramachandran, an IIM (Ahmedabad) alumnus, defends his team’s actions. “These messages about Amma are put out by people with an intent to create panic and unrest. We are not targetting anyone in particular. We don’t check which party they belong to. If the message is intended to cause panic, we file complaints,” says Ramachandran.
Ramachandran’s remark that the IT wing is not targeting anyone in particular is in retaliation to a statement by DMK leader MK Stalin. Stalin had said that DMK party cadres were being targetted.
How can the AIADMK clamp down on freedom of expression? “This isn’t about clamping down on freedom of expression, but about law and order. And the police department follows due diligence and decides whether they need to act on a complaint,” Ramachandran says.
Another member of the IT wing working in a district outside Chennai said that members across districts were constantly monitoring YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and even WhatsApp, day and night.
So if a member in a particular district notices a message that says Amma is no more or something vicious, they inform the state team. The state team then gives a clearance and a police complaint is filed.
Sometimes, the team sends messages warning people that a tweet or post has been taken note of and if repeated, a police complaint would be filed.
We have got more than 30 apology letters from people we have warned on Twitter, Facebook etc. Look at the trajectory of rumours, it has decreased a lot over the last week. People with vested interests were spreading them and once they realised we will take action, they have gone silent.Member of AIADMK’s IT wing
The arrest of two bank employees in Coimbatore who were having a private conversation on Jayalalithaa’s health has drawn much flak. The Hindu wrote in an editorial, “The arrest of two employees of a bank in Coimbatore is particularly unsettling, as the police went solely by the word of an AIADMK functionary. Neither the CCTV footage nor the testimony of other bank employees suggests any attempt on the part of those arrested to disrupt public order or even spread rumours. Even if the two employees did speak of the Chief Minister’s health condition, the conversation constituted a private exchange — it cannot be compared to posts on social media, even if many of these posts were just as innocuous.”
The AIADMK is however unapologetic about the arrest. “This was not a conversation in their house, this was in a public place. Two people talk, then four people do and just like that, a malicious rumour spreads. It was not wrong to get them arrested,” an AIADMK member told The News Minute.
(Published in arrangement withe The News Minute.)
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