Bail for Teen Arrested Over Facebook Post Attributed to Uttar Pradesh Minister Azam Khan

A class 11 student, who spent two nights in prison in Uttar Pradesh, has been granted bail. He was arrested for sharing a comment on Facebook that was attributed to Samajwadi Party leader and the state's senior minister Azam Khan.

A court today granted the 19-year-old student of a Bareilly school bail on two bonds of Rs 20,000 each and his lawyers said he is likely to leave prison by this evening.

The student's arrest under the controversial Section 66 A of the Information Technology Act has provoked outrage and a fresh debate about the law, which has been challenged in the Supreme Court as an attack on the fundamental right of speech and expression.

Section 66 A deals with offensive messages sent from a computer or mobile device, but after strong protests, the Centre had assured that comments made on social media will not be taken into acount. The top court, where a petition arguing that the arrest was made despite Centre's assurance, has been filed, will hear the matter tomorrow. 

The student has also been charged with promoting enmity between groups. Azam Khan's staff, who filed the police complaint said, the comment had been falsely attributed to the powerful politician and also alleged that it was "controversial and inflammatory."

Mr Khan was unmoved by the outpouring of support for the teen on social media and elsewhere and warned, "If a young man uses such language,  he will face such backlash."

The minister said also said, "The law is enforced strictly... And you've all seen how he was arrested in 24 hours. I know exactly what goes on in Facebook. Things like this have happened in the past as well."

Amnesty International India has said in a statement that the student's comments on Facebook, "do not amount to advocacy of hatred, and should not be a reason to put him in detention...if his comments affect anyone's reputation, they can take recourse to civil remedies for defamation."

In earlier cases, two teenagers in Mumbai's Palghar were arrested in November 2012 for posting comments on Facebook lamenting a shutdown in Mumbai following the death of Shiv Sena patriarch Bal Thackeray.

Last year, Devu Chodankar, a shipbuilding professional from Mumbai, was booked under the same section after he allegedly posted remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi on a Facebook group in March.