New Delhi: The Supreme Court advocate who approached the police against a 15-year-old girl for verbally abusing PM Narendra Modi during the Jantar Mantar protest has decided to withdraw her complaint.
Advocate Smriti Singh Chandel, who filed the complaint which led to registration of a zero-FIR by the Gautam Buddha Nagar Police Commissionerate, said Tuesday that she has decided to withdraw the complaint after Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself ‘forgave’ the girl for her now-viral remarks at the CJP protest.
“When the Prime Minister, who was the target of the abuse, has forgiven her, who am I to pursue the complaint,” Chandel told ThePrint.
Adding, “I shared my decision with the Delhi Police investigating officer (IO) who approached me on the case, and they will proceed with the process of filing a cancellation report to close the case.”
Based on her police complaint, Noida Police had registered a zero FIR under Sections 352, 353(1), and 356(1) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) before transferring the case to Delhi Police.
Hours after the FIR was registered, the girl issued a public apology.
“I went to Connaught Place with my friends in July. We came across a group of people who were using abusive and objectionable language against the Prime Minister. They influenced me and encouraged me to repeat those words, and I did,” she can be heard saying in the video.
She goes on to add, “I am not able to look anyone in the eye. I appeal to the entire country and everyone to please forgive me. I am only 15. This is my first and last mistake. I will never repeat such an act again.”
Modi, too, had in an Instagram video Friday night said he had forgiven “misguided children” who used abusive language against him and his late mother, and that the country should guide such children on the right path.
ThePrint had earlier reported that the girl and her family were issued threats of rape, murder and acid attacks, and the family left their Greater Noida residence under the cover of night in their slippers, telling no one where they were headed. The police complaint and the FIR recorded her as 25, while the girl and her mother maintain that she is 15.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)