Pinarayi gags humour

The New Indian Express
Nov 12

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Is forwarding an e-mail a crime? Yes, feels CPM party secretary Pinarayi Vijayan. More so if it pertains to him. At a time when cyberspace is populated with stuff lampooning politicians of all kinds, including the President of the United States of America, Pinarayi has taken umbrage at an e-mail quoting a dialogue by veteran actor Sankaradi in the film ‘Sandesham’ which takes a swipe at the CPM and its policies.
Pinarayi , smarting under the severe wounds inflicted on the party in the local body polls, has got the person arrested for forwarding the email. Moyideen, 47, from Kuttipuram in Malappuram district, was summoned to the Cyber Police Station here and arrested on Thursday. He was later let off on bail.
‘’The mail had the image of Pinarayi Vijayan and the dialogue was attributed to him. This amounts to forgery and defamation,” the police said. Moyideen, one among the hundreds who had forwarded the e-mail, has been charged with various sections of the IT Act and the Indian Penal Code that warrants imprisonment up to three years and a fine of Rs 1 lakh.
Moyideen, an employee of Keltron, had received the mail from Hamsa, a relative in Barcelona.
Hamsa got it from just4ajoke@ gmail.com, cyber cell sources said adding that efforts are on to trace the source.
"Pinarayi seems to be unaware that he is distancing himself from the masses by initiating serious action against such silly jokes which are now common. If the cyber police were to arrest people for such silly offences, the jails in the world would not suffice to keep them,” a tech-savvy comrade said on condition of anonymity.