The Supreme Court quashed an FIR against a man in Uttarakhand over a newspaper article about government land encroachment, citing lack of evidence for a cognizable offense.
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NEW DELHI: On Tuesday(19th March),The Supreme Court of India made headlines by overturning a First Information Report (FIR) lodged against Shiv Prasad Semwal. This case originated from a newspaper article alleging encroachment on government property in Uttarakhand.
The judicial bench, comprising Justice B R Gavai and Sandeep Mehta, meticulously examined the allegations presented in the FIR and concluded that they lacked the essential components of a recognizable criminal offense against Semwal. This verdict came as a significant relief to Semwal, who had been embroiled this since a July 2020 ruling by the Uttarakhand High Court, which had previously rejected his plea to nullify the FIR filed against him for alleged infractions, including those under Section 153A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
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Justice Gavai and Mehta elaborated on their decision, stating:
“From a bare reading of the language of section 153A IPC, it is clear that in order to constitute such offence, the prosecution must come out with a case that the words ‘spoken’ or ‘written’ attributed to the accused, created enmity or bad blood between different groups on the ground of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., or that the acts so alleged were prejudicial to the maintenance of harmony.”
Furthermore, as the bench delved into the background of the complaint. It was revealed that the complainant, a landowner of 1.196 hectares in the Tehri Garhwal district, had accused Semwal of using the news platform to sabotage a foundation stone laying ceremony. This event was scheduled to be graced by the then Chief Minister of Uttarakhand, Trivendra Singh Rawat, on March 20, 2020. The accusation centered around an alleged attempt by Semwal to “blackmail” the complainant by insinuating in the published article that the land in question, earmarked for the ceremony, was illicitly occupied government land.
In his defense before the high court, Semwal adamantly asserted his innocence, contending that the controversial article originated from a journalist’s Facebook post. Furthermore, he argued that his position as the director of the e-newspaper did not inherently involve him in any unlawful conduct. This argument was reinforced by an affidavit from the State of Uttarakhand, acknowledging that no criminal offense had been perpetrated by the newspaper during the investigation.
The Supreme Court also looked into another charge against Semwal – under section 504 of the IPC – which deals with intentionally insulting someone to provoke a breach of peace. However, the court found this charge baseless in Semwal’s case because the FIR didn’t mention that the article led to any disturbance of peace or illegal actions by anyone.
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In their concluding statement, the justices asserted,:
“…we are unequivocally of the opinion that allowing the continuation of proceedings based on the contested FIR against the appellant amounts to a clear abuse of the legal process, as the allegations outlined in the FIR lack the necessary elements to constitute any recognizable offense.”
With this decisive stance, the FIR against Shiv Prasad Semwal was dismissed.
