The Supreme Court on Monday questioned the Gujarat government for filing criminal cases against Congress MP Imran Pratapgarhi over his social media post relating to a poem titled “Ae khoon ke pyase baat suno (You blood-thirsty people, listen up)”.
The court said that prima facie it did not find anything objectionable or any insinuation against any community.
The central theme of the poem is an appeal for communal harmony.
“It’s ultimately a poem. It is not against any religion. This poem indirectly says that even if somebody indulges in violence, we will not indulge in violence. So if somebody indulges in violence, they will get dethroned…. That’s the message the poem gives. It is not against any particular community,” Justice Abhay S. Oka, heading the bench, observed.
The bench, which also had Justice Ujjal Bhuyan, told the Gujarat government’s standing counsel, Swati Ghildiyal: “Apply your mind to the poem. Ultimately, creativity is also important.”
The counsel sought permission to file the state’s response, following which the court adjourned the matter for hearing after three weeks.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Pratapgarhi, who is also a poet, said the high court judge who had rejected the plea to quash the FIR “has done violence to the law”.
“That is my worry,” Sibal submitted, to which the bench orally said the high court judge had probably not appreciated the poem and its literal meaning.
On January 21, the bench had directed the Gujarat police not to take any coercive steps against Pratapgarhi, who is facing criminal charges for allegedly promoting communal disharmony by posting the poem on social media.
The bench, while restraining the Jamnagar police from taking any step on the FIR registered on January 3, had issued notice to the state.
The FIR had been lodged by some locals with the Jamnagar police under Sections 197 (imputations, assertions prejudicial to national integration), 299 (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) and 302 (uttering words, etc, with deliberate intent to wound religious feelings of any person) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023.
Gujarat High Court had declined to quash the FIR and taken the view that the post tended to create disharmony and unrest among the public.
The high court had also remarked that as an MP, Pratagarhi needed to have conducted himself in a more responsible manner since he was aware of the repercussions such a post could have.
It had pointed out that Pratapgarhi had not responded to several notices issued by the Jamnagar police for investigating the FIR registered against him.
Aggrieved, the MP filed an appeal in the apex court.