Recently, the Bombay High Court granted bail to Abdul Rahim Abdul Gani Ghadiyali, who was arrested for making a 'disrespectful' Facebook post about Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar.

The Court granted him protection from arrest, noting in the APP that it would not be appropriate to deny him protection until it was determined whether it was a fake account of the applicant or not.

However, the bench of Justice Sandeep K. Shinde directed the Investigating Officer to take steps to block the applicant's Facebook account in order to prevent the objectionable post from being circulated further.

A member of the scheduled caste community filed a complaint in the case, and a FIR was filed against the applicant/accused at Mumbra Police Station for offences punishable under Sections 295A of the Indian Penal Code, Section 67 of the Information Technology Act, and Section 3(1)(v) of the Act of 1889.

Because he was an RTI activist and whistleblower, the applicant-accused claimed he had been falsely implicated. His attorney contended that an unknown person had created a Facebook account in his name and posted on it.

As a result, he disowned the Facebook account and post, and the Investigating Officer requested that the Senior Inspector, Cyber Cell, verify the IP address and other details and submit the report.

In light of this, the APP informed the Court that a report was likely to be received within a month, and thus he did not object to the grant of protection in favour of the applicant-accused. As a result, the Court granted him protection from arrest and scheduled the application for a month later, on October 25th, 2021.

Finally, the Court directed that in the event of the applicant's arrest in this case, he be released on bail upon execution of a P.R. Bond in the amount of Rs.20,000/-.

Case Title: Abdul Rahim Abdul Gani Ghadiyali v. The State Of Maharat and anr. 

 [READ ORDER]