New Delhi: Disapproving strongly of the use of social media to “sensitise” the issue, the Uttarakhand High Court Friday disposed of the petition filed by gym owner Deepak Kumar seeking registration of an FIR regarding his 26 January confrontation with Right-wing groups in Kotdwar, and police protection because of the death threats he has allegedly received.
Hearing the matter, Justice Rakesh Thapliyal gave the go-ahead to the police to investigate the case and ordered: “Petitioners are also directed to cooperate and not indulge on social media.”
Kumar has also been named as an accused in an FIR filed by the opposite parties, which is why the high court Thursday questioned the maintainability of his petition, asking how an accused can seek police protection.
Continuing the hearing Friday, Justice Thapliyal said: “The petitioner has the right to challenge FIR, but as pointed out by the state, as all offences carry less than seven-year sentence, thus investigating agency is under legal obligation to follow Supreme Court guidelines.”
He added, “The petitioners should not indulge by sending messages or videos with regard to the incident. This is essential for fair investigation. If somebody sends messages and videos on social media, this will certainly affect investigation… he is a citizen of this country and he should abide by the law. Being a citizen of India, he has to cooperate with the investigation by hoping and trust that the investigation will be conducted in a fair and transparent manner.”
Kumar’s lawyer, Navnish Negi, objected to this and argued that “everyone is on social media”, maintaining that Kumar had not posted anything to disturb public peace and order.
The matter dates back to 26 January this year, when Kumar confronted a Right-wing group harassing an elderly Muslim man over his shop’s name, which included the word “Baba”. Deepak stepped in and introduced himself as ‘Mohammad’ Deepak. Video footage of the incident is viral on social media.
Since the video went viral, Kumar’s gym has been shut and his family and friends have allegedly been receiving death threats. An FIR has been registered against him for rioting, causing hurt, and intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace.
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Proceedings in court
Negi Friday appealed to the court that on the day of the incident, the Right-wing activists had come from Haridwar, among other places, and they had identified them from their Facebook accounts. However, the police are yet to register an FIR against them, he said.
The court, however, noted that there needs to be public trust in the police, and said “whenever such incidents have happened, the police’s primary role is to maintain law and order”.
The judge further slammed the counsel for questioning the police. “Don’t sensitise it, I will restrain you from giving any statement to the social media,” he observed orally.
To this, Negi said, “Hum kare toh dikkat, aur koi kare toh okay? (if we do it, it is a problem, but others do it and it’s okay?)”, referring to social media posts put up by members of right-wing groups.
“Nobody is permitted to give any statement to social media,” the judge then said.
Negi, agreeing that his client had made social media posts, further asked the government pleader to show any post which was breaching the maintenance of law and order.
The court, disposing of Kumar’s petition, noted that “the state counsel seriously object to the reliefs sought by the petitioner by saying that these are wholly unwarranted at this stage where the petitioner itself is an accused in an FIR” and that offences registered against Kumar are punishable by seven years.
“The court is of the view that reliefs are nothing but an attempt to sensitise the issue and to frustrate the ongoing investigation of the FIR,” the judge said.
The court also refused to quash the FIR against Kumar and gave direction to proceed with the investigation, stating the “petitioner has to cooperate with the investigation by hoping and trusting the police”.
Justice Thapliyal then went on to add how the police are overburdened.
“One IO (investigation officer) has 50 investigations to take care of… it is very easy to blame the police but see their difficulty,” he said, urging Kumar to not take “law in your hands” and cooperate with the police probe.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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