Chattisgarh High Court has granted interim relief to BJP’s national spokesperson Mr. Sambit Patra. The Court directed the Police to hinder from taking any ‘coercive action‘ against him. As it can promote animosity among different groups. The Single-Judge bench comprised of Justice Sanjay K. Agarwal.
Earlier, two FIRs stood registered against him; for the offenses of defamation, hurting of religious sentiments, and promoting enmity among the different groups. Notably, he made false allegations against former Prime Ministers Jawaharlal Nehru and Rajiv Gandhi over the Kashmir issue, Sikh riots of 1984, and Bofor scam. Sambit Patra posted these allegations on his personal Twitter account.
Court’s Take
The petitioner’s counsel argued that the cognizance of the FIR cannot be taken on the basis of the Police reports. Being that, the complaint has to be filed before the jurisdictional magistrate. The Court has directed the Respondents to file a counter-affidavit. The affidavit has to be placed before the Court within four weeks. The Chattisgarh High Court noted that the petitioner was a patient of COVID-19; and was recently discharged from the hospital. He is still undergoing a quarantine period of fourteen days. In light of these observations, no coercive action should be taken against the petitioner in pursuance of the FIR.
