NEW DELHI: In a relief to Congress Rajya Sabha MP Imran Pratapgarhi, the Supreme Court on Friday quashed the FIR and criminal proceedings initiated by Gujarat police against him over his social media post with a poem 'Ae khoon ke pyase baat suno'.
A bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan held that no offence was made out against him.
SC Ruling on Imran Pratapgarhi’s FIR: No Grounds for Hate Speech Charges
The court said that Police must first go through and understand the meaning of written or spoken words before lodging FIR in such cases.
"Constitution says reasonable restriction can be imposed on freedom of right to speech and expression but the reasonable restriction should not be unreasonable and fanciful to trample the rights of citizens," the bench said.
The apex court said that scope of written or spoken words should be understood by the court and authority from the point of view of a reasonable person and not from the view of those who perceive criticism as threat to their power and status.
"Different forms of art including poetry, drama, music, satire make human life more meaningful and people should be granted freedom to express through it," the bench said.
The court reserved the verdict on Pratapgarhi's appeal on March 3.
Freedom of Speech Upheld: Supreme Court Clears Imran Pratapgarhi in Social Media Case
The court had earlier observed that the freedom of speech and expression had to be understood by the police "at least now" after 75 years of the Constitution.
“When it comes to the freedom of speech and expression, it has to be preserved,” it had said.
The bench had earlier observed that the poem "Ae khoon ke pyase baat suno" was actually propagating a message of non-violence and said that the police ought to have shown sensitivity before lodging the FIR.
"This actually promotes non-violence. It has nothing to do with religion, this has nothing to do with any anti-national activity. Police has shown lack of sensitivity," the bench had earlier said.
On January 21, the court had granted relief to Pratapgarhi, who is facing allegations of promoting communal disharmony by posting a video clip on his social media handle.
A resident from Jamnagar, after being aggrieved by the posting of Pratapgarhi, filed an FIR alleging that the lawmaker used a song which was "provocative, detrimental to national integrity and hurt religious sentiments”.
The HC refused to quash the FIR and said in its order that "there was need for further investigation and that he had not cooperated with the investigation process."
The FIR was registered against Pratapgarhi on January 03, by Jamnagar police for promoting enmity between different groups on the basis of religion, race, statements prejudicial to national integration, abetting the commission of an offense.
