NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday reserved the verdict on an appeal filed by Congress MP from Rajya Sabha, Imran Pratapgarhi seeking a direction to quash an FIR against him for allegedly sharing a provocative song, as it observed that the freedom of speech and expression had to be understood by the police "at least now" after 75 years of the Constitution.
“When it comes to the freedom of speech and expression, it has to be preserved,” said, a two-judge bench of the apex court, led by Justice Abhay S Oka and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan.
The FIR said that the Rajya Sabha MP was booked after he allegdly posted the 46-second video clip / poem on December 29 on X handle with a poem "A khoon ke pyase baat suno..." running in the background.
During the course of the hearing on Monday, the bench observed that the poem "Ae khoon ke pyase baat suno" was actually propagating a message of non-violence and said that the police ought to have shown sensitivity before lodging the FIR.
"This actually promotes non-violence. It has nothing to do with religion, this has nothing to do with any anti-national activity. The police has shown lack of sensitivity," the bench said and slammed the Gujarat Police for its action in booking Pratapgarhi.
The apex court further observed that this was the problem - now nobody has any respect for creativity. If you read it plainly it says that even if you suffer injustice, suffer it with love, even if people die, we will accept it.
"It's ultimately a poem. It is not against any religion. This poem indirectly says even if somebody indulges in violence, we will not indulge in violence. That's the message that the poem gives. It is not against any particular community," the top court bench, in its order.
On January 21, the top court had earlier granted relief to Pratapgarhi, who is facing allegations of promoting communal disharmony by posting a video clip on his social media handle.
A resident from Jamnagar, after being aggrieved by the posting of Pratapgarhi, filed an FIR alleging that the lawmaker used a song which was "provocative, detrimental to national integrity and hurtful to religious sentiments”.
Pratapgarhi had to move the Gujarat High Court for quashing the FIR, saying that the poem, based on which the FIR was filed, "is a poem spreading a message of love."
In the HC, the Congress MP argued that "reading of the song poem, it is a message of love and non-violence."
But the HC refused to quash the FIR and said in its order that "there was need for further investigation and that he had not cooperated with the investigation process."
Then, Pratapgarhi had moved the apex court, for relief.
The FIR, registered against Pratapgarhi, on January 03, said, he was booked by Jamnagar police for promoting enmity between different groups on the basis of religion, race, statements prejudicial to national integration, abetting the commission of an offense by the public or by a group of more than ten people, among other charges. Whereas, Pratapgarhi vehemently denied these allegations.