By PTI
KOLKATA: The Calcutta High Court on Friday stayed all proceedings in a case lodged against BJP national convenor for Information and Technology Amit Malviya for “fraudulently” downloading information from Kolkata Police’s website and circulating it till four weeks after the Durga Puja vacation.
The court said it is of the opinion that a plain reading of the FIR lodged against Malviya does not disclose any ingredients of offences under Sections 153/505(a) (promoting enmity between groups) of the Indian Penal Code and the sections of the Information Technology Act, 2000, applied in this case.
The FIR lodged against Malviya claimed that on June 10, 2020, Malviya has “dishonestly and fraudulently downloaded an information of Kolkata Police department regarding posting of police personnel in different jurisdiction and circulated it in his Twitter handle in a provocative way intending to create unrest/mutiny among different groups of officers and has used electric medium to propagate the same.”
Justice Kausik Chanda ordered a stay of all further proceedings in the case lodged at the Cyber police station of Kolkata Police and pending before the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate till four weeks after the Puja vacation.
Passing the order, Justice Chanda observed that circulation of the information after downloading the same from the official website of the Kolkata Police Department does not amount to an offence since such information was displayed in public domain by the police department itself.
Malviya’s lawyer Ayan Bhattacharya submitted before the court that since the petitioner is a national convenor of the Information and Technology wing of a political party rival to the ruling party of West Bengal, the case has been “maliciously” filed against him by the police.
