A single-judge bench of the Madras High Court comprising of Justice G.K. Ilanthiraiyan was approached by a lawyer and spokesperson of the BJP named Prashant Umrao who is popular on Twitter and other social media platforms for his contentious tweets and opinions.
The Court remarked that he must have been careful while posting his recent tweet which depicted a false picture of certain Bihar Migrant Workers in the state of Tamil Nadu. However, anticipatory bail was given with the directions for him to sign an undertaking affidavit to comply with the police’s enquiry and not post tweets which have the potential to create a furore.
Brief Facts:
The case of the prosecution was that the petitioner had uploaded false content, on his Twitter page, depicting that in Tamil Nadu, 15 Biharis were hanged in a room because they were speaking in Hindi, out of which 12 died. This alarming tweet has been re-tweeted by about, 5641 Twitter users, fetched 14.3 lakh likes and 179 quote tweets and has been seen by more than 5 lakh viewers. He had uploaded this false content, intentionally to trigger linguistic chauvinism, instigating violence between Hindi-speaking Bihar people and other State people versus Tamil people, creating a tense and panic situation.
Contentions of the Petitioner:
The petitioner contended that he is a resident of Delhi and a practicing Advocate before the Courts in Delhi. He happened to be the spokesperson of the Bharatiya Janata Party and on account of political vendetta, the defacto complainant lodged the false complaint against the petitioner. The petitioner is not the creator of such tweets, and even the alleged forward was not within his knowledge. Even assuming that he has forwarded the messages, he is not responsible for that and only the creator of the same is responsible for criminal liability. Though 5 lakh people had seen the messages, no untoward incidents or group clashes between the community of the two States. That apart, the alleged messages have no ingredients to attract the offence under Section 153(A) of the I.P.C.
Contentions of the Respondent:
The respondents contended that the petitioner intentionally tweeted a false message that 12 Bihari people were killed by the Tamil people. This tweet reached 5 lakh people, and it has national ramifications on politics, law and order, and economic aspects between the various States affecting the peaceful co-existence of citizens of India. He has intentionally drafted each and every word in the tweet and posted it on his Twitter account. It is not a mere forwarding Twitter. The above Twitter created a panic situation among the Hindi-speaking people in Tamil Nadu and Tamil-speaking people in North India. He attempted to create enmity between the different groups on the ground of language and was thus likely to disturb public tranquillity and peace. Because of such false messages, there was a commotion in Bihar on 02.03.2023 and after which, a delegation of officers was deputed to Tamil Nadu to analyze the current situation. Further, a group of officers from Bihar, came down to Tamil Nadu on 05.03.2023 to check rumors about the attacks on migrant workers and thereafter only found that the information as relayed on social media was just rumors. In fact, the Director General of Police had formed a team of senior officers to coordinate with law enforcement agencies of other States to counter the rumours, propaganda and disinformation. A report that a larger-scale conspiracy was involved was also received, as evident from the series of tweets posted by him in the public domain. Therefore, the petitioner was likely to escape from the clutches of law and custodial interrogation of the petitioner was very much required in this case.
Observations of the Court:
The court observed that though there was no untoward incident that happened after the alleged Tweet, the migrant laborers from other States started moving to their native States on the false propaganda, after seeing Twitter. The above Twitter created a panic situation among the Hindi-speaking people in Tamil Nadu and Tamil-speaking people in North India. The court remarked that it is a sorry state of affairs that the petitioner being an Advocate, and someone who is actively involved in a national wide political party did not assume responsibility over Society. The court further opined that before tweeting or forwarding the Twitter messages, he must have thought about the consequences of the said messages and the genuineness of the said messages.
Although, the petitioner being an Advocate, was granted a levy by the Court in the hope that he will cooperate for interrogation with the respondent. At the same time, he was directed to file an undertaking affidavit not to tweet or forward any such message to promote enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language etc., before the concerned jurisdictional Magistrate and on such filing of the affidavit, the court was inclined to grant anticipatory bail to the petitioner, with certain conditions.
Decision of the Court:
The petitioner was granted anticipatory bail subject to his undertaking affidavit not to tweet or forward any such message to promote enmity between different groups.
Case Title: Prashant Umrao @ Prashant Kumar Umrao vs the Inspector of Police
Coram: Justice G.K. Ilanthiraiyan
Case No.: CRL OP(MD). No.4717 of 2023
Advocate for the Petitioner: Mr. R. Anand
Advocate for the Respondent: Mr. Hasam Mohammed Jinnah
Read Judgment @LatestLaws.com
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