Though the government has failed to comply with the recommendations of the West Bengal Human Rights Commission (WBHRC) in connection with the arrest of Professor Ambikesh Mahapatra and his neighbour Subrata Sengupta for circulating an e-mail containing graphics of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in April, the police have dropped certain charges brought against them in the initial police complaint. The charges under Section 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult modesty of women) and Section 500 (punishment for defamation) of the IPC have been dropped from the charge sheet.
“The charges brought against them in the charge sheet are under different sections of the Information Technology, (Amended) Act, 2008, which amount to circulating offensive messages through communication service (66A) and dishonestly receiving stolen communication resources (66B),” Professor Mahapatra’s legal counsel Sanjib Ganguly told The Hindu on Friday. On August 13, the WBHRC said there was prima facie no case against the two under Section 509 of the IPC.
