By PTI
ALLAHABAD: The Allahabad High Court on Tuesday granted a stay on the arrest of two men who have been accused of posting defamatory content on social media against Champat Rai, the general secretary of Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust.
It asked the Uttar Pradesh government to file a counter-affidavit in the case and issued notice to Rai’s brother Sanjay Bansal who had lodged a complaint against the two men at Nagina police station in Bijnor.
Justice S P Kesarwani and Justice Piyush Agrawal passed the order in two separate petitions filed by Vineet Narain and Rajneesh Kapoor — the two accused in the case.
On June 19, Bansal complaned to police that Narain and Kapoor had posted some content on social media which were against Champat Rai and were the based on false allegations made by one Alka Lahoti with intention to promote enmity or hatred between sections of society.
The petitioner had claimed in the court that from the reading of the FIR no offence was made out, that it was lodged with malafide intent and it does not disclose commission of any offence.
Following the hearing, the court observed, “Bare perusal of the impugned first information report shows that even if the allegations made in the impugned FIR are taken in their entirety they do not constitute the offence alleged.”
“From the aforesaid it prima facie, appears that the impugned first information report cannot be sustained in view of the law laid down by the Hon’ble Apex Court in State of Haryana and others vs. Bhajan Lal”, it added.
The High Court issued a notice to Sanjay Bansal and fixed July 27 as the next date of hearing in the case.
