Today, On 15th May, The Calcutta High Court instructed police to refrain from taking action against BJP’s Amit Malviya, for the time being, regarding his Saraswati Puja tweet. Malviya’s tweet had stirred controversy, but the court’s intervention indicates a temporary reprieve pending further legal proceedings.
Calcutta: The Calcutta High Court issued an order on Wednesday, instructing the West Bengal Police to refrain from resorting to any forceful measures against Amit Malviya, the IT Cell chief of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Malviya charged with inciting communal animosity.
Justice Jay Sengupta stated that he would determine whether the tweet shared by Malviya on social media platform X, which addressed the purported discontinuation of Saraswati Pooja in schools throughout the State, could be considered as an act of inciting communal hatred.
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The Court ordered,
“Let the State file its response to the plea. Till then there shall be no coercive action against the petitioner. Also, for interrogation, if any, the earlier orders to interrogate him virtually, will continue.”
Malviya petitioned the High Court to dismiss the First Information Report (FIR) filed against him following a tweet on February 7. In the tweet, he accused Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury of vandalizing idols of Goddess Saraswati and criticized West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for allegedly promoting ‘communal politics’ by discontinuing Saraswati Puja in schools across the state.
The tweet read,
“Saraswati Puja is on 14th Feb. Days before the puja, several hundred murtis of Maa Saraswati were vandalised in West Bengal’s Berhampore, constituency of Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury. While law and order in Bengal is at a nadir under Mamata Banerjee, the state is seeing competitive appeasement between the opposition parties. Earlier, TMC had stopped Saraswati Puja in schools. Bengali Hindus continue to bear the brunt of Mamata Banerjee’s communal politics.'”
Amit Malviya charged under Sections 153A and 505 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), which pertain to promoting communal enmity and public mischief, respectively.
During the court proceedings, Malviya’s lawyer argued that the essential elements required to establish these offenses were absent, as there had been no communal tension following the tweet in question. To support this argument, the lawyer referred to news reports indicating that the West Bengal government discontinued Saraswati Pooja in schools.
In response, the counsel labelled the First Information Report (FIR) as politically motivated and malicious.
On the contrary, the State’s representative contended that a strong prima facie case could be inferred from the contents of the FIR itself.
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Requesting additional time to address the arguments presented. The government counsel remarked,
“Media reports cannot serve as the foundation for any substantial expression of ideas,”
The Bench will now take up the matter for hearing after summer break.