Moral policing on social media more than actual moral policing: Kerala High Court

The Kerala High Court on Friday observed that there seemed to be more moral policing on social media than in real life outside the virtual world..Justice VG Arun made the observation while hearing a petition seeking removal of an Instagram Reel (video) of an actress which was posted on the popular image-sharing platform by a user who was accused in a POSCO case."Moral Policing in this (social media) is more than the actual moral policing," the judge orally remarked..The petitioner in the present case, an actress by profession, claimed that she had been approached by the Instagrammer in question through social media where he introduced himself as someone who knows a lot of film producers. As per his suggestion, the petitioner met up with him once, during which time, they captured a few Instagram reels together.Since then, the instagrammer allegedly started behaving inappropriately with the petitioner on social media. The petitioner claimed that the instagrammer ignored her request to not post the reels.The petitioner further submitted that the instagrammer later got arrayed as an accused in a crime alleging commission of offenses under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. Subsequently, the reel in question started getting very abusive comments directed at the actress. The petitioner had approached the authorities to delete the post made by the Instagrammer. As the authorities failed to take action, the petitioner approached the court..In response to the plea, the government pleader submitted that the complaint received at the police station against the Instagrammer was acted upon and accordingly, directions were issued to the intermediary, Instagram, to delete the objectionable content. However, the post seemed to still be visible on the social media platform..Therefore, the Court directed the Department of Information and Technology and Department of Home Affairs to consider the complaint and make sure that Instagram takes appropriate action by deleting the objectionable Instagram reel if necessary, after affording an opportunity for hearing to the Meta Platforms.The Court disposed of the matter and said that the directions have to complied with in a time-bound manner..The petitioner was represented by advocates John Mani V, Jackson Johny, Varghese Sabu and Sethulakshmi KK.