J&K police slaps stringent UAPA against those misusing social media

Jammu and Kashmir police have invoked stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act to register a case against various people for using social media platforms on virtual private networks (VPNs).

“Taking serious note of misuse of social media, the Cyber Police Station, Kashmir Zone, Srinagar has registered a case FIR against various social media users who defied the Government orders and misused social media platforms,” police said in a statement.

“The FIR has been registered while taking cognizance of social media posts by miscreants by use of different VPNs, which are propagating rumours with regard to the current security scenario of the Kashmir valley, propagating secessionist ideology and glorifying terror acts/terrorists,” it said.

On January 24, J&K administration restored 2G Internet services on mobile phones after shutting it down for over six months. However, only whitelisted sites were allowed to be accessed with social media and peer-to-peer applications, banned.

After the ban, several Internet users in Kashmir installed VPNs to access the social media sites which have been blacklisted. The FIR, registered under sections 13 of UAPA, 188, 505 of IPC and 66-A (b) of IT Act, is the first against the use of social media after the ban.

On Sunday authorities added more than 1,000 websites to its internet whitelist, taking the total number from 481 to 1,485. However, the social media ban continues as the administration allowed the continuation of only the voice calls, SMS and 2G internet connectivity to white-listed sites on post-paid and pre-paid mobile phones across the Union Territory till February 24.

From the last few days most of the netizens have not been able to access social media sites as the mobile companies—Airtel, Jio and others successfully installed firewalls that blocks VPNs.

The broadband internet continue to remain suspended since August 5 when the Center revoked special status of Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 and bifurcated the erstwhile state into two union territories.