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SC dismisses C’garh govt plea in toolkit case against ex-CM Raman Singh, Patra
It said observation in the order terming the First Information Report (FIR) filed in the case as politically motivated will not come in the way of the high court in finally deciding the matter
The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to interfere with a Chhattisgarh high court order staying probe against former chief minister Raman Singh and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Sambit Patra over their comments related to the alleged toolkit, or a social media campaign playbook, that their party in May said was prepared by the Congress to defame Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It said observation in the order terming the First Information Report (FIR) filed in the case as politically motivated will not come in the way of the high court in finally deciding the matter.
The Chhattisgarh government approached the Supreme Court against the high court’s June 14 interim order. A single judge of the high court passed the order saying there was no case against Singh and Patra. The two were accused of spreading fake news and promoting enmity between classes through their tweets related to the alleged toolkit.
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The BJP has alleged the toolkit was prepared to build a biased narrative over the government’s handling of the second wave of the Covid-19, and the Central Vista Project. The Congress has dismissed the allegations.
The high court issued a notice on the basis of Singh and Patra’s pleas against the FIR and sought a response from the state government. It said the averments in the FIR reflected that by the tweets, Congressmen “are aggravated which clearly indicated that no public peace or tranquillity is being adversely affected”. The court linked the allegations in the FIR to political rivalry between two parties.
Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who appeared for the state government, cited the high court’s observations, and asked: “What is left for me to go back for?”
A bench of Chief Justice of India NV Ramana and Justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli was not inclined to entertain the petition. “There are a large number of cases alleging politically motivated FIRs across courts in this country. This court cannot be dealing with all such cases. Why should we give any preference to you?”
Singhvi said the least the state government expected was a fair hearing before the Supreme Court and this was not possible with the high court’s observations.
The bench told Singhvi, “Do not waste your energy. We are not interfering with the HC (high court) order. Let the high court decide the matter finally. The state would also have the opportunity to challenge the final order before this court.” Dismissing the appeal, the bench said, “...we request the high court to dispose of the petition expeditiously.”
Singh and Patra were booked on May 19 on the complaint by Akash Sharma, the Chhattisgarh chief of ruling Congress’s students’ wing. The two moved the high court for quashing the FIR against them.
