SC dismisses Chhattisgarh Govt's plea in toolkit case
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New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed the petitions filed by the Chhattisgarh government challenging the High Court's order staying investigation in the FIR lodged against Dr Raman Singh, BJP National Vice President and former Chief Minister and BJP Spokesperson Sambit Patra for their tweets in connection with the alleged fake toolkit case.
"Let the Chhattisgarh High Court decide the case," a bench headed by Chief Justice NV Ramana said.
The bench, also comprising justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli said that the present cases cannot be granted separate treatment as there are many cases pertaining to the toolkit issue that is pending in various high courts.
"Don't waste your energy here. We are not inclined to entertain the special leave petitions. We dismiss the SLPs," the bench said when senior advocate AM Singhvi, appearing for the state, wanted to refer to records of the case.
The FIR against Dr Raman Singh and Sambit Patra was lodged under Sections 504 (Intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace), 505(1)(b) and 505(1)(c) (Statements conducing to public mischief), 469 (Forgery for purpose of harming reputation) and 188 (Disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) of IPC at the instance of one Akash Sharma, State President of National Student Union of India (NSUI), Chhattisgarh.
The Supreme Court requested the Chhattisgarh High Court to decide expeditiously the pleas related to the fake toolkit case, saying the matters be decided without being influenced by earlier observations.
The Chhattisgarh High Court on June 11 passed two separate orders and granted interim reliefs in the same FIR lodged against Singh and Patra while noting that averments in the FIR reflected that "by the tweets, Congressmen are aggravated which clearly indicates that no public peace or tranquillity is being adversely affected and it is the purely political rivalry between two political parties".
On May 19, an FIR was lodged based on the complaint of Akash Sharma, the president of the National Students' Union of India's (NSUI) Chhattisgarh unit, with the allegation that Singh, Patra and others had circulated fabricated content on social media platforms using a fake letterhead of the Congress by projecting it as a toolkit developed by the party.