Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala government has approved the state police to seek US assistance in investigating former Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar’s Facebook account. This approval was granted under the Mutual Legal Assistance Agreement. Kerala BJP President Rajeev Chandrasekhar made a controversial Facebook post on October 29, 2023, regarding the twin bomb blasts in Kalamassery, which killed eight people. A police complaint was filed with the Ernakulam Cyber Cell on October 31, 2023.
What is the controversy surrounding the Facebook post?
The FIR alleges that the Facebook post, allegedly made from Chandrasekhar’s account, attempted to disturb communal harmony and made an inflammatory comment, implicating the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas in the Kalamassery blasts. The post accused the Congress and the CPI(M) of engaging in appeasement politics and used the hashtags ‘HamasTerrorist’ and ‘KochiTerrorAttacks’. It allegedly referred to Hamas leader Khaled Mashal, who had virtually participated in a pro-Palestinian protest held in Kerala a day before the blast. The state government approved assistance from the US.
To investigate this post, the state police needed to gather information from Facebook and other media platforms in the US. The police sought permission from the state government in July, which was granted on September 8. A police official stated that the mutual legal assistance request would be sent through the CBI, India’s Interpol nodal agency. The Interpol agency in the US will process the request by collecting information from the relevant social media firms.
Relief granted by the Kerala High Court
The police had also filed another case against Chandrashekhar and BJP National Secretary Anil Antony for posting in the name of Hamas. Both cases were registered under sections 153 (provocation with intent to cause riot), 153A (promoting enmity between groups on grounds of religion, race, language or caste) of the Indian Penal Code and 120(O) (mischief causing mischief) of the Kerala Police Act. Chandrasekhar later approached the Kerala High Court, which directed the police not to take any coercive action against him.
