New Delhi, May 8.
Indian Youth Congress leader B.V. Srinivas, who became the helping face of the party during Covid, on Monday moved the Supreme Court seeking to quash an FIR filed against him by expelled Assam youth Congress president Dr Angkita Dutta.
The Gauhati High Court had earlier refused to quash the case or grant him anticipatory bail. The probe was still at a very nascent stage while rejecting his plea for pre-arrest bail, it noted. There’s no indication that the FIR was politically motivated, it also observed.
Srinivas immediately challenged the decision in the top court. His plea was mentioned by senior advocate Devdutt Kamat. He argued that Opposition leaders were being hounded in Assam.
A three-judge bench led by CJI D.Y. Chandrachud listed the plea for hearing on May 15. Dutta has filed an FIR against him under various sections of the IPC and the Information Technology Act. She has since been expelled from the Congress party.
These include Section 354 (outraging modesty of a woman), 354A (sexual harassment), 294 (uttering obscene words), 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult modesty of a woman), 341 (wrongful restraint), 352 (assault or criminal force), 506 (criminal intimidation) read with Section 67 (transmitting electronically material containing a sexually explicit act or conduct) of the IT Act.
Srinivas has since been asked to appear before Guwahati police in the case. He had moved the High Court seeking a direction to Assam police not to take any coercive action against him and also sought a stay on the notice of summons asking to him to personally appear in the case.
His counsel K.N. Choudhury claimed that the FIR was prompted by a political vendetta and was intended to keep him out of campaigning in Karnataka.
“… the present FIR has been registered by the police with an ulterior motive to injure and humiliate the petitioner and his reputation by having him arrested,” his plea in the High Court said.
The ruling party in the Centre and Assam is desperately trying to hatch a political conspiracy against the petitioner, a popular national political stalwart, to harm his reputation and prevent him from participating in campaigning in Karnataka, Choudhury alleged.
He also alleged that judges on the verge of retirement were prone to passing orders in favour of the government angering the single judge hearing the case.
Dutta in her FIR accused Srinivas of persistently harassing her mentally by way of sexist words and threatened her with dire consequences if she complained to office bearers of the Youth Congress.
Srinivas also argued that a case if any could only be filed in Chhattisgarh where she claims he heckled and threatened her against complaining.
The FIR was also filed after much delay, Srinivasan’s lawyer Choudhury argued. “… the FIR in question being apparently politically driven, the criminal justice system cannot be used to settle political and personal rivalry.”
