Hyderabad, May 13: A civil rights activist has been arrested for allegedly posting defamatory material about an Andhra Congress MLA on Facebook.

Jaya Vindyala, the Andhra chief of the People’s Union for Civil Liberties, was picked up by police from her Secunderabad home yesterday after Prakasam MLA A. Krishna Mohan filed a case against her and 11 others for alleged “character assassination”.

Mohan claimed she had labelled him a “womaniser”, a “criminal politician”, a member of the “land, drug, sand and liquor mafia” and a “trafficker” in women and children based on the findings of an 11-member PUCL committee that she had uploaded on the social media platform on February 22.

Vindyala was remanded in 12 days’ judicial custody by a magistrate in Varpur town. She has been charged with posting defamatory and malicious content against an individual online, character assassination and harming an individual’s reputation in public life under Section 66A of the IT Act and Section 120B of the IPC.

Section 66A makes it a crime for anyone to digitally send information that is “grossly offensive” or has “menacing character” or which causes anyone “annoyance” or “inconvenience”.

Bhima Nayak, the circle inspector of Chirala where the MLA had filed a complaint on April 18, said: “The civil rights leader had published a report that is defamatory and also a highly objectionable account of a legislator.”

Krishna Mohan claimed the language used against him on Facebook was “derogatory” and had “an intention to blackmail”. He said: “If they have evidence of my wrongdoing, let them file a police complaint or go to the high court if they feel I would influence the lower courts.”

He claimed the PUCL report also made highly damaging remarks on Tamil Nadu governor K. Rosaiah.

Vindyala alleged Krishna Mohan had the entire district administration and the police “under his thumb”.

“I am shocked that they chose to act two months after our fact-finding report was published in all local newspapers. But they took cognisance only of the Facebook report as it went viral and attracted national attention to his corrupt acts,” she claimed.