Man booked for ‘defaming’ Health Secretary on social media

A person has been booked for allegedly defaming the Secretary (Health) by posting a defamatory post against her on a social media handle, the police said here today.

As per the complaint filed by Sudha Devi, Secretary (Health), to the cybercrime wing of the Himachal Pradesh Police, a Facebook page named ‘Dev Bhumi Mirror’ allegedly being operated by Dr Aditya Puri, a resident of Hamirpur who claims to be a journalist, had made a post claiming that Sudha had been arrested for accepting a bribe of Rs 8,000. She claimed that the post was false and appeared to be an intentional attempt to defame her.

Sudha urged the police to take prompt legal action against Puri and the social media platform responsible for circulating the defamatory content.

The police registered a case under Section 336 (4), 356(2) and 79 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, in Cybercrime police station in Shimla and initiated an investigation.