This Article is From Nov 26, 2012

Arrested for Facebook posts on politicians, they spent 12 days in jail

Arrested for Facebook posts on politicians, they spent 12 days in jail
Mumbai: After the controversy surrounding the arrest of Air India cabin crew members Mayank Mohan Sharma and KVJ Rao over a Facebook post, they have been asked to resume work.

Both these men had been suspended since May this year after their arrests. They have been asked to undergo a refresher course.

The two are alleged to have shared lewd jokes about politicians, made derogatory comments against the Prime Minister and insulted the national flag in their posts.

That prompted a past-midnight police raid at their homes and arrest under the controversial 66(A) and 67 sections of the Information Technology Act. The two spent 12 days in police custody and were suspended by Air India.

Mr Rao said they had merely shared content easily available on the Internet.

It took the police nearly two months to make the arrests after lodging the FIR in March. Mr Sharma said the cyber cell wing investigated the complaint for over a year but never summoned them even once. The police were unavailable for comment.

Mr Rao alleged the police acted under political pressure from NCP politician Kiran Pawaskar.

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