Mehdi, the man claiming to be the handler of the pro-ISIS Twitter account, may say that he has not broken any law, but city police say they have solid legal ground to arrest him.
A senior police officer, who is part of the probe, said that a clear case could be made under Section 66F of Information Technology Act, 2000 for ‘cyber terrorism’.
Section 66-F (B) specifically deals with crimes where a person knowingly accesses a computer resource and “may be used to cause or likely to cause injury to the interests of the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of the State, friendly relations with foreign States, public order, decency or morality, or in relation to contempt of court, defamation or incitement to an offence, or to the advantage of any foreign nation, group of individuals or otherwise.”
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A person convicted for cyber terrorism shall be punishable with imprisonment, which may extend for life.
The officer added that a review of the tweets posted by @ShamiWitness clearly show that he was in touch with many ISIS fighters on the frontline. He said the man’s claim to not have been involved with any activity of ISIS couldn’t be believed; they suspect he was neck-deep in its activities.