Pune social media influencer held for sexual harassment, defamation; Opposition accuses govt of misusing police | Pune News

Pune: Police on Thursday arrested city-based social media influencer Santosh Pandit on charges of sexual harassment and defamation for allegedly posting videos containing obscene and abusive remarks against a Maharashtra minister and a PMC corporator.Opposition netas criticised the action, accusing govt of using police machinery to target a voice raising public issues. Police, however, maintained that the arrest was based on complaints and the content posted online.Pune police commissioner Amitesh Kumar said people should avoid making objectionable statements and posting such videos on social media. “We will take stringent action against such people. On Thursday, we took one influencer into custody,” Kumar said.The police action came in the wake of a woman’s complaint. The woman in her complaint claimed that she had noticed two videos posted by Pandit on a popular online video-sharing website on Wednesday. “In the videos, Pandit was seen using lewd and abusive language against the minister and the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) corporator,” a Kothrud police officer said.Deputy commissioner of police (Zone III) Sagar Kawade told TOI that Pandit had been charged under sections 75 (sexual harassment), 356 (defamation) and 352 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), along with relevant provisions of the Information Technology Act. A local court sent Pandit to police custody till Sept 8.This was the second case registered against the influencer since Sunday. The Deccan Gymkhana police had registered a defamation case against him for allegedly using abusive language against the minister.Opposition accused state govt of misusing the police against the activists. State Congress chief Harshwardhan Sapkal said, “We do not support the use of foul language. However, Santosh Pandit is known for questioning authorities over civic issues. Our party protested Pandit’s late-night arrest.”Former minister and Congress senior Yashomati Thakur accused state govt of taking action against Pandit after he questioned senior BJP members Chandrakant Patil and Gopichand Padalkar. “The assault on anti-noise campaigner Vidyanand Bapat and arrest of Pandit shows that common man’s voice is being suppressed by govt. Common people can criticise politicians in a democratic society, but BJP can not take criticism.”Bapat was on Thursday assaulted in the city allegedly by a member of a city-based Ganesh mandal amid the debate over use of high-decibel sound systems and DJs during Ganeshotsav.