Ex-scribe held for harassment

The Cyber Crime Police Station (CCPS) on Thursday arrested a 52-year-old former journalist for allegedly writing defamatory posts against women on Facebook. The accused was produced at Esplanade Court later in the day and was remanded to four days police custody.

According to police, the accused, Ketal Kamlakar Tirodkar, had allegedly posted a defamatory write-up against women in July this year. On July 21, CCPS registered a criminal case against Tirodkar and initiated the probe. Later, police collected evidence against Tirodkar and placed him under arrest.

“The accused used his Facebook profile account to write things outraging the modesty of women and was a clear act of criminal intimidation. After gathering enough evidence we arrested him after he failed to appear before the police when we asked him to,” said a senior cybercrime police officer.

“We have arrested him under sections 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman), 506 (criminal intimidation), 500 (defamation), 504 (intentional insult) and 506 (2) (punishment for criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code. We have also booked him under  sections of the Information Technology Act. We have to collect the device used to commit crime and submit it for forensic analysis,” said the officer.