The Supreme Court has refused to quash an FIR against UP Youth Congress Secretary Sachin Chaudhary registered over his derogatory remark against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chairman of Adani Group, Gautam Adani.
The Bench of Justice Aniruddha Bose and Justice Bela M. Trivedi refused to interfere in the case on the grounds that the law enforcement agency was still investigating the alleged commission of offences and that they would decide on a future course of action after completion of the probe.
Chaudhary moved the Apex Court against the June 16 order of the Allahabad High Court, which ruled that the offence alleged in the FIR would definitely fall within the ambit of Section 153A and Section 505 (2) (Statements creating or promoting enmity, hatred or ill-will between classes) of the Indian Penal Code, which were cognisable offences and hence, the FIR could not be quashed.
The Special Leave Petition contended that even if the allegations made in the FIR were taken to be true, the same would not constitute an offence under Section 153A (promoting enmity between different groups) of IPC.
However, the Apex Court dismissed the SLP on the grounds that the argument given by the petitioner has been summarised in the High Court verdict, which rejected his plea for quashing of the FIR.
An FIR was lodged against Chaudhary on the basis of a complaint filed by youth wing leader of Bharatiya Janata Party Akshit Agarwal, alleging that the Congress leader, during a press conference organised in Sambhal, used derogatory words against the Prime Minister by stating that he (Modi) had a love affair/homosexual relation with (Gautam) Adani.
As per the complaint filed by Agarwal, Prime Minister Modi was like God to him as well as to the people associated with BJP.
The derogatory statement allegedly made by Chaudhary had hurt the feelings of people of his class and the members of Hindu organisations and many other religious organisations, he added.