Citizens can’t be harassed for being critical of govt: SC

NEW DELHI: Ordinary citizens cannot be harassed for criticising government, the SC said in a matter wherein a Delhi woman was summoned by Kolkata Police over a Facebook post that she shared of a crowded Raja Bazar & questioned the Mamta Banerjee government’s seriousness in enforcing lockdown.

Finding the post too innocuous to be converted into a first information report (FIR), the bench of justices DY Chandrachud and Indira Banerjee said that if police were to issue summons to ordinary citizens in such a manner, it would force the courts to step in and protect the constitutionally guarded fundamental right of free speech under Article 19(1)(a).

“If some person writes something against the government in some country, are you (state) going to make him appear, say in Kolkata or Chandigarh or Manipur and tell him that now we will teach you a lesson? This is a dangerous proposition. Let this remain a free country,” the bench remarked.

The court stayed a high court order of September 29 asking the woman to appear in Kolkata. The investigating officer was granted liberty to question the petitioner through video-conferencing or even travel to Delhi to confirm facts.

The court was hearing a petition filed by Roshni Biswas, a resident of Delhi against whom an FIR was registered at Ballygunje police station on May 13, 2020 for an allegedly objectionable post on a Facebook page. Biswas got a stay on arrest from the Calcutta HC on June 5 on an undertaking that she would appear after the lockdown was lifted. The Kolkata Police issued her summons under Section 41A of the Criminal Procedure Code asking her to appear in Kolkata to be questioned in the case. She approached the Calcutta HC to quash the FIR. While this petition was still pending, the HC directed Biswas on September 29 to appear before the police. She challenged this order in the top court.