Chhattisgarh HC stays FIR against BJP's Raman Singh for tweet on alleged Congress toolkit

Calling it a case with 'political motives', the Chhattisgarh High Court has stayed the probe into an FIR filed against BJP leader and former CM Raman Singh over his tweets of last month on a purported toolkit created by the Congress, which allegedly to “defame” the country.

As per a LiveLaw report, while staying the investigation, the High Court observed, "Prima facie, no case is made out against the petitioner and criminal proceedings are manifestly attended against the petitioner with malafides or with a political grudge."

An FIR had been registered a day after the Chhattisgarh National Student Union of India (NSUI)  president filed a complaint against the BJP leader's tweets on the alleged Congress 'toolkit'. 

'FIR has been registered with political motives': High Court

On May 19, the FIR was filed under Sections 504 (Intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace), 505(1)(b) and 505(1)(c) (Statements conducing to public mischief), 469 (Forgery for purpose of harming reputation) and 188 (Disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). 

A single bench of Justice Narendra Kumar Vyas found no offense in the case and said," no public peace or tranquility is being adversely affected and it is the purely political rivalry between two political parties. This, prima facie, establishes that the present FIR has been registered with political motives.”

'We are not afraid': Ex-CM Raman Singh

Last month, after the FIR was filed, Raman Singh had said, "They (Congress) have failed terribly at accomplishing anything. The CM is registering FIR as a political tool to appease Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi and he thinks he is closest to them. To expose them, I and Sambit (Patra) released their "toolkit".  They want to suppress the voice of democracy and we are not afraid.  We are even ready to get arrested."

Sambit Patra had shared the contents of a purported toolkit and slammed Congress' attempts to spread misinformation in the country. He covered sections such as 'Politicising and Allowing Super Spreader Kumbh', 'Questions on PM CARES', 'Special treatment of Gujarat', 'Choosing vanity over people's lives,' 'Amplify work of frontal Congress organizations' and 'Prime Minister Modi's image'. The document also urges volunteers to use phrases such as 'Modi strain', ‘Missing’ Amit Shah, ‘Quarantined’ Jaishankar, ‘Sidelined’ Rajnath Singh, ‘Insensitive’ Nirmala Sitharaman.