The cyber crime wing of Chennai Police on Tuesday arrested Kishore K. Swamy, a social media activist, for his abusive posts against women journalists. The Tami Nadu women Journalists Forum on July 26 had filed a complaint against the self-styled political analyst with proof of his social media posts using abusive words and religious slurs. A few individual women journalists had also lodged complaints against him.

Kishore is a known BJP and AIADMK sympathiser and is being hailed on social media as ‘Junior Swamy’ or ‘Swamy from Tamil Nadu’ by the supporters of both the parties for his pro-government stands. However, he is also known for continuously abusing women journalists and TV anchors who raise questions against the ruling parties.

The latest tweets from @sansbarrier. Kishore K Swamy got arrested on Monday, after Tamil Nadu Women Journalists Forum filed a complaint in July 2019 against him. He is an avid AIADMK and BJP supporter on social media, and claims he is a “political analyst.” One of the complainants has written on Twitter previously on how he was engaged and supported by various BJP IT Cell members.

Kishore is often seen in television debates, commenting on the developments in Tamil Nadu politics. In their complaint against him, the Tamil Nadu Women Journalists Forum and other individual journalists mentioned how he was engaged and supported by the BJP IT cell members.

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The complainants had accused Kishore of doing character assassination of women and instigating violence against the journalists by raising religious slurs.

“He had been continuously harassing almost every woman journalist in Tamil Nadu, as he can make the newsrooms and editorials listen to his commands. We filed the complaint in July and the police commissioner then assured us of action at an appropriate time,” said Jayabathuri, coordinator of the forum.

Kishore was arrested under sections 354 D of IPC (stalking); 509 of IPC (insulting the modesty of women) and Section 4 of Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Harassment of Women Act (TNPHW), 1998 for harassment of women.

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Though Section 4 of TNPHW is non-bailable, Kishore was later released on bail on health grounds. Police sources said that he was running a high temperature.

A few members of the BJP IT cell were seen celebrating his release.

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The arrest comes after the Tamil Nadu Women Journalists Forum filed a complaint against Kishore K Swamy for continuous harassment on social media.

The Cyber Crime wing of the Chennai Police arrested Kishore K Swamy, a self-attested 'political analyst', for engaging in continuous harassment of women journalists on social media. The arrest comes following a complaint filed by Tamil Nadu Women Journalists Forum.

As per the police complaint filed by Tamil Nadu Women Journalists Forum in July 2019, Kishore K Swamy, a popular AIADMK and BJP supporter on social media has been harassing women journalists by posting obscenities on them on social media, especially Twitter. The complaint narrated at least three different instances in which Kishore had insulted women journalists on social media. He also indulged in character assassination of these women journalists and instigated people from a particular religion against them. Based on these instances, the complaint had also urged the Chennai Commissioner of Police to take stringent action against him. Based on this complaint, the Cyber Cell had registered an FIR against him under sections 354D (Stalking), 509 (Word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) of the IPC and section 4 (Harassment of Women) of Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Women Harassment Act, 1998.

However, he was released on bail later in the afternoon.

Speaking to TNM, Jaya Bathuri, the Coordinator of the Tamil Nadu Women Journalists Forum said that they had ignored him for long considering that he was doing it for 'fame'. “But when this (posting abusive posts online about women journalists) became a daily affair, we had to react at some point. When women are already in a field where entry for women is difficult, such fascists must be dealt with,” she said. She also added that when representatives from the Forum had approached the Commissioner of Police to file a complaint, they were told that there were already quite a few complaints against Kishore from other journalists. “The Commissioner had assured us of action against him,” she added.

Kishore Swamy has moved from one political camp to another over the years. While he was initially an 'AIADMK supporter', he became a Sasikala loyalist after Jayalalithaa's death. Later, he claimed to be with TTV Dhinakaran faction for a while. These days, his tweets and Facebook posts have been in favour of the BJP. However, all these parties, especially the AIADMK has said that he has nothing to do with the party.

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In the last one and half years, multiple women journalists have filed complaints against the man for vile tweets that amount to sexual harassment. Other than the Tamil Nadu Women Journalists Forum, individual women journalists and a few male counterparts too had filed complaints. English news channels, however, continued to call Kishore K Swamy as an 'expert guest' on their debates, though journalists working with these organisations have themselves complained of harassment.

Sonia Arunkumar, another representative of Tamil Nadu Women Journalists Forum, said that Kishore is a serial offender who has been posting abusive posts about those in media and media organisations for many years. “He posts about everybody. Men, women, senior journalists, everybody. We wanted to convey that we will not take it lightly and that’s why we decided to lodge formal complaint,” she said.

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Adding that Kishore has always been shifting loyalties in the past, she also pointed out that more damage is done by those who spread his posts and engage with him. “For instance, at present if you check it is the BJP supporters who are giving more mileage to his tweets and propagating it. This emboldens him. As a party, they could have at least desisted from encouraging him or giving him any kind of validation. His posts have given young women journalists, who are new to the field, immense mental agony,” she added.

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