Police arrest a supporter of 'Kiss of Love' event in Kochi on Sunday. (Press Trust of India)
A day after the "Kiss for Love" protest in Kochi was scuttled, the organisers complained their official Facebook page has vanished and the Facebook Group they were a part of, "Free Thinkers", has been disabled.
Rahul Pashupalan, the man behind the protest, told NDTV, "It is astonishing that the Facebook page has vanished. It is an attempt to sabotage and curb the growing influence of 'Kiss for Love' online. We used our Facebook page as a primary mode of spreading the word."
Moreover, the hackers have left "vulgar posters of members floating around on online sites," he added.
The Kochi cyber-crime police said they had not received any complaint regarding the hacking, but the state's Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala said he would ask the authorities to look into the matter.
Over the last couple of weeks, the "Kiss of love" page had received around 66,500 likes.
The much-hyped event - a protest against moral policing in the state - failed to take off on Sunday after the police took 50 organisers and protesters into protective custody. They were let off later. (Read:
What's in a Kiss? Police Van For Kerala Protesters)
The organisers had asked couples to assemble at Kochi's Ernakulam Law College in Kochi at 5 pm. They were then to proceed to the main venue - the Marine drive grounds - and express their love for each other by kissing, holding hands or in any other way.
The event had generated a lot of political heat, with the Bajrang Dal - practically unheard of in the state before - and the Kerala Students Union, being up in arms against it. The Youth Congress and the Students' Federation of India were supporting the campaign.