Case filed after 'abusive' comments against Congress leader posted on Facebook

Kerala Police have registered a case under the IT Act on a complaint that 'abusive' comments have been posted on Facebook against the state Mahila Congress chief for backing Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman PJ Kurien in the Suryanelli gang-rape case.

The case under Section 66 A of the IT Act had been registered based on a complaint by Mahila Congress chief Bindu Krishna that abusive comments along with her picture had been posted on the social media and investigation was on, a cyber cell official of the Kerala Police said in Thiruvananthapuram.

Investigation was progressing and so far no action had been initiated against anybody, the official said.

When contacted, Krishna said she had submitted the complaint to Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, who forwarded it to the cyber cell for investigation.

Krishna said she was only stating the party stand on Kurien issue, but the comments that appeared in the social media were "highly defamatory" with a view to "tarnishing" her image as a woman.

"As per the information available so far, the comments were posted from a fake ID and police were trying to trace their origin. Police are in contact with Facebook authorities," Krishna said.

The comments were noticed on February 4 and by then itself more 140 people were found to have shared them, she said.

Kurien was named by the Suryanelli victim as one of those who had sexually assaulted her in 1996. The Supreme Court had exonerated the Congress leader of the charges.

The victim recently wrote to her advocate seeking to explore the possibility of filing a review plea in the Supreme Court for a fresh probe against Kurien, triggering calls for his resignation. Kurien has maintained that he had been cleared of the charges by the apex court.