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Basharat Peer in New Delhi
Legal experts feel the move by the Delhi Police special branch to bring obscenity charges against journalist Iftikar Geelani, booked under Official Secrets Act for allegedly possessing documents detailing Indian troop movement, may fall through in the court.
The police claim to have found pornographic cassettes and emails during the raid on Geelani's house and plan to press charges under section 292 of the Indian Penal Code.
But many experts feel that the mere possession of pornographic material does not count as an offence. Eminent lawyer Kamini Jaiswal contends that exhibiting and forwarding pornographic material is an offence.
"In Iftikar's case it is basically a ploy to keep him in the jail and delay the judicial process. First, the police used the OSA, but since it was proved that the documents they claimed to be highly sensitive was available on the Internet; now they are resorting to the obscenity charges," she argues.
Geelani's wife, Aaanisa, laughs in disbelief about the latest police charges.
"It is very frivolous. Iftikar did not have time for his family. To think of him indulging in pornography makes me laugh. These are simply cheap tactics that the police is resorting to," she says.
"I spoke to him about it and he said those are floating emails that every other person receives on the Internet," she adds.
The next hearing of the in-camera trial of Iftikar Geelani is coming up on July 18 and his counsel, V K Ohri, is planning to challenge the charges.
"The law says that it is a crime if a person exhibits pornography to minors or lends such things to minors and makes money out of it. It does not apply to Iftikar's case anyway," says Ohri quoting from section 292 of the IPC.
On the police claims of recovering pornographic videocassettes and emails from Geelani, Ohri agrees with Jaiswal's contention that possession of such material does not constitute an offence.
One of the emails, the police officials claim, invites Iftikar Geelani to have group sex.
Asked whether receiving such an email makes someone liable to criminal charges, Assistant Commissioner of Police (cyber crime cell), Rajan Bhagat, told rediff.com, "No it does not. The recipient is a victim and can lodge a complaint against the sender. Sending pornographic material to anyone is an infringement of his privacy and is punishable by five years imprisonment."
This means that the obscenity case against Geelani will fall flat, unless the police prove that Geelani was exhibiting and distributing the pornographic material, allegedly recovered from him.
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