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The Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered interim protection from any coercive action against Congress MP Imran Pratapgarhi, who is facing charges of promoting communal disharmony by posting a video clip on his social media handle.
A bench of Justices Abhay S. Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan issued a notice to the state of Gujarat and others on Pratapgarhi's plea challenging the Gujarat High Court order that had refused to quash the FIR against him. At the outset of the hearing, senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the Congress MP, told the bench, "What have we come to? The court has to say something. The order was passed on the first day itself even without notice." To this, Justice Oka said, "We heard the poem also. Issue short notice. Returnable on February 10. No step shall be taken in pursuance to the FIR registered." On January 3, the national chairman of Congress' minority cell, Pratapgarhi, was booked by Jamnagar police for promoting enmity between different groups based on religion, race, making statements prejudicial to national integration, insulting religious groups or their beliefs, abetting the commission of an offence by the public or by a group of more than ten people, among other charges. The FIR alleged that the Rajya Sabha MP was booked after he posted a 46-second video clip on December 29 on his X handle, with a poem "ae khoon ke pyase baat suno..." running in the background. A Jamnagar resident filed an FIR alleging that Pratapgarhi used a song that was "provocative, detrimental to national integrity, and hurt religious sentiments." Subsequently, he moved the High Court to quash the FIR, claiming that the poem, based on which the FIR was filed, "is a poem spreading a message of love." The High Court, on January 17, 2025, refused to quash the FIR, stating that there was a need for further investigation and that he had not cooperated with the investigation process. Before the High Court, the Congress MP maintained that "reading of the song-poem, it is a message of love and non-violence." (ANI)
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