Tripura violence: SC slams police for sending notices to over social media posts

The Supreme Court Monday slammed Tripura Police for sending notices to people for social media posts over alleged communal violence in the state despite its interim restraining orderA bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud and Surya Kant warned the counsel for the state that if Tripura Police does not refrain from harassing people it will summon the Home Secretary and the concerned police officialsThe top court was hearing a plea filed by journalist Samiullah Shabbir Khan against a notice issued by Tripura Police seeking his appearance under Section 41A Notice of appearance before police officer of the Code of Criminal ProcedureInform the Superintendent of Police not to harass people like this Why should somebody be required to run to the Supreme Court What else is this if this is not harassmentOtherwise we will call SP to court and make him answerable if we find hes trying to evade compliance by issuing notices to the people Well ask everybody to appear before this court including your Home Secretary once we have passed an order covering the issue you must show responsibility the bench observedAdvocate Sharukh Alam appearing for Khan stated before that the top court on January 10 passed an interim order restraining the police from acting against the journalists tweetsI didnt request for dasti notice so physical service is still incompleteThat order hasnt reached the Superintendent of Police I was issued a notice under Section 41A asking me Khan to appear before Agartala today That order was well reported Alam saidThe counsel for the Tripura government requested that the matter be adjourned for two weeksThe apex court then said What do you mean hold over for two weeks when you have issued notice for todayThe apex court directed Tripura Police not to take further steps with regard to a notice seeking appearance of Khan in the matterThe counsel for the petitioner states that the order dated 10 January 2022 passed by this court though reported widely has formally remained to be served on the superintendent of police Be that as it may a notice under section 41 A of the CrPC dated 20 January 2022 was issued requiring the attendance of the petitioner todaySince the petitioner has already been protected by the previous order of this court dated 10 January 2022 no further steps shall be taken in pursuance of the notice under section 41 A pending further orders Counsel for the state of Tripura shall communicate both the copies of the present order and the previous order dated 10 January 2022 to the superintendent of police the bench saidWhen the counsel for the state government said that he has no instructions in the matter the bench said What else is all this if it is not harassment It is a very innocuous statement to say you dont have instructions here while you keep doing all thisAs the hearing came to an end Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appeared and assured the bench I will look into it and I will ensure that the sanctity of your lordships orders is ensured in letter and in spiritThe top court on January 10 had restrained Tripura Police from acting on its notice to Twitter Inc with regard to a journalists tweet about alleged communal violence in the stateOn November 17 last year the top court had directed Tripura Police not to take any coercive action against the three civil society members including a journalist in connection with an FIR lodged under the harsh UAPA provisions against them for allegedly bringing facts through social media posts about targeted violence against the minority community in the stateThe three persons who were part of a fact finding committee have also challenged the Constitutional validity of some provisions of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act 1967 on the grounds that the definition of unlawful activities is vague and wide moreover the statute makes grant of bail to accused very difficultThe FIR took note of a tweet of one of the members of the civil society which had stated that Tripura is burningLast year the northeastern state witnessed incidents of arson looting and violence after reports emerged from Bangladesh that the Hindu minorities there had been attacked during Durga Puja on allegations of blasphemyThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever