HC quashes FIR against Congress worker for social media post on Chandrakant Patil

It was the responsibility of the state and the police to ensure that the Indian Penal Code (IPC) was ‘not misused by anyone, much less, political parties’, the Bombay high court said while quashing two FIRs registered against a Congress worker for allegedly making defamatory comments against higher and technical education minister Chandrakant Patil on social media

Mumbai: It was the responsibility of the state and the police to ensure that the Indian Penal Code (IPC) was ‘not misused by anyone, much less, political parties’, the Bombay high court said while quashing two FIRs registered against a Congress worker for allegedly making defamatory comments against higher and technical education minister Chandrakant Patil on social media.

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The court also imposed a cost of ₹25,000 on the police officer concerned for registering the FIR and posted the hearing to March 30 for compliance.

Sandeep Kudale, a Congress worker and resident of Kothrud in Pune, was booked under section 153A of the IPC for criticising Patil on his alleged statements against Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar and Mahatma Jyotiba Phule.

Kudale was booked at Kothrud and Warje Malwadi police stations for making a video outside the residence of Patil in Pune and posting it on Twitter. In the videos he had criticised the minister for saying that Phule had collected donations for starting schools and had used derogatory words for Patil. Kudale was arrested for two days on the grounds that the words used by him hurt the sentiments of the BJP workers and would disrupt the peace and tranquillity of the city.

The bench in its order noted, “The right to express one’s views is a protected and cherished right in our democracy and cannot be taken away by imposition of Section 153A of the IPC and by arresting a person as done in the present case. Section 153A cannot be resorted to silence people from expressing their views/opinions/dissent, so long as Article 19 (2) is not violated. Cases under Section 153A are on the rise and the onus is on the police/State to ensure that the said provision is not misused by anyone, much less, political parties.”

The court further criticised the action of the two police stations and said, “The statement in question on the basis of which the FIRs have been registered against the accused must be judged on the basis of what reasonable and strong-minded persons will think of the statement, and not on the basis of the views of hypersensitive persons who smell danger in every hostile point of view.”

In light of the above and the fact that the Constitution gave people right to voice their opinion, the bench quashed and set aside both the FIRs against Kudale and he be given a compensation of ₹25,000 that was to be recovered from the police officers.