Senior Kerala IAS officer K Gopalakrishnan (IAS:2013:KL) escapes the criminal prosecution for his controversial act of creating WhatsApp groups with communal overtones that created a storm in the state recently. Giving a relief to him, the state police have opted not to register a criminal case against him.
The decision not to press for framing the criminal charges against him was taken after a thorough review of the officer’s actions, which were limited to the creation of two separate groups and adding Hindu and Muslim IAS officers in them.
What came to his rescue is the fact that Gopalakrishnan did not post any content in the groups that could be construed as promoting enmity between different religious communities. Had he shared messages with religious undertones, he could have faced charges under Section 196 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Samhita (Section 153A of the Indian Penal Code), which addresses the promotion of hostility between different groups based on religion, race, or other factors. However, in absence of any such content having been shared in the group, police concluded that his actions did not meet the threshold for criminal charges.
Gopalakrishnan was placed under suspension pending inquiry for creating WhatsApp groups, namely “Mallu Hindu IAS Officers” and “Mallu Muslim IAS Officers” and later filing a false complaint with the police claiming his phones were hacked. His conduct was found to be “unbecoming of an All India Service officer” in the preliminary investigation. This characterisation suggests that while his actions may not warrant criminal prosecution, they will definitely lead to disciplinary measures within the service.
