‘Raining FIRS’: Supreme Court grants arrest shield to YSR Cong’s Sajjala B Reddy
Sajjala Bhargava Reddy challenged the Chandrababu Naidu-led government’s move to invoke provisions relating to organised crime for social media posts
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday shielded YSR Congress Party’s social media head Sajjala Bhargava Reddy from arrest for two weeks to enable him to approach the high court for bail, observing the interim protection was akin to allowing the petitioner to get first aid while the state government was “raining FIRs” on him.
The court, however, declined to scrap the first information reports (FIR) filed against Reddy who complained that the state government invoked provisions to deal with organised crime for social media posts against Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu, saying it did not want to bypass the high courts.
Reddy challenged the state police booking him under Section 111 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) that deals with organised crime, underlining that the state had registered six cases against him, and that he apprehended arrest in four fresh cases lodged last week.
The court declined to deal with the issue on merits, noting that any accused was entitled to pursue legal remedies but requested the Andhra Pradesh high court to pass appropriate orders after hearing both sides. “We direct the arrest of the petitioner shall remain stayed for a period of two weeks to enable him to approach the high court,” said the bench comprising justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan. It was left to the high court’s discretion to continue the protection after considering the case on merits.
Noting precarious situation in which the petitioner was placed, the bench, in a lighter vein, observed, “You (state) are raining FIRs on him. We are only trying to hire him an autorickshaw to reach AIIMS so that he can get there, see doctor and get first aid.”
“You are letting him on fast track by putting him on a Concorde,” responded senior advocate Siddharth Luthra, who appeared for the Andhra Pradesh government.
Reddy’s lawyers, senior advocates Kapil Sibal and Siddharth Dave, had complained that the state government was giving him no time to pursue his legal remedies and argued that Section 111 of BNS, conceived to curb “any continuing unlawful activity” such as kidnapping and robbery, was being used to “cripple” dissent in Andhra Pradesh.
The state government defended the move, saying it was based on concrete material that showed how objectionable and obscene posts were put out against the chief minister and his family at the instance of the petitioner, who took over as social media head of YSRCP in 2022.
Luthra said Reddy had approached the high court and was granted protection from arrest in some of the FIRs while maintaining that since the allegations against the petitioner give rise to a “continuing offence” the imposition of section 111 stood justified. The top court refused to examine the same as the issue would be considered by the high court.
Over the last month, the state police have filed over 100 cases leading to the arrest of several persons for offensive posts about family members of Naidu and deputy chief minister Pawan Kalyan.
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