The Allahabad High Court has granted interim protection to journalist Vineet Narain and one Rajneesh Kapur, who were booked for making allegations of land grabbing against Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader Champat Rai and his brothers..A Division Bench of Justices Surya Prakash Kesarwani and Piyush Agrawal, also opined that the first information report cannot prima facie be sustained in view of the law laid down by the Supreme Court in State of Haryana and others vs. Bhajan Lal."Considering the facts and circumstances of the case, as an interim measure it is provided that pursuant to the impugned first information report the petitioners in both the writ petitions shall not be arrested till the next date fixed, i.e. July 27, 2021," the Court ordered. .The Uttar Pradesh police had filed a case against Narain and two others for alleging that Champat Rai Ram Temple Trust and VHP member were involved in grabbing of land from a gaushala in Bijnor..They were charged for offences including under Sections 153A (promoting enmity between religions), 193 (false evidence), 295A (hurting religious sentiments), 465 (forgery) of Indian Penal Code and Sections 66D, 71 and 74 of Information Technology Act..The counsel for petitioner submitted that no offence can be made out from the FIR and it has been lodged malafide..After perusing the FIR, the Court prima facie agreed with the contention of the petitioner, stating that "bare perusal of the first information report shows that even if the allegations made in the impugned first information report are taken in their entirety they do not constitute the offence alleged.".The Court, therefore, said that the matter needs consideration and issued notice to the informant respondent no.4. The matter will be heard next July 27. .[Read order]
The Allahabad High Court has granted interim protection to journalist Vineet Narain and one Rajneesh Kapur, who were booked for making allegations of land grabbing against Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader Champat Rai and his brothers..A Division Bench of Justices Surya Prakash Kesarwani and Piyush Agrawal, also opined that the first information report cannot prima facie be sustained in view of the law laid down by the Supreme Court in State of Haryana and others vs. Bhajan Lal."Considering the facts and circumstances of the case, as an interim measure it is provided that pursuant to the impugned first information report the petitioners in both the writ petitions shall not be arrested till the next date fixed, i.e. July 27, 2021," the Court ordered. .The Uttar Pradesh police had filed a case against Narain and two others for alleging that Champat Rai Ram Temple Trust and VHP member were involved in grabbing of land from a gaushala in Bijnor..They were charged for offences including under Sections 153A (promoting enmity between religions), 193 (false evidence), 295A (hurting religious sentiments), 465 (forgery) of Indian Penal Code and Sections 66D, 71 and 74 of Information Technology Act..The counsel for petitioner submitted that no offence can be made out from the FIR and it has been lodged malafide..After perusing the FIR, the Court prima facie agreed with the contention of the petitioner, stating that "bare perusal of the first information report shows that even if the allegations made in the impugned first information report are taken in their entirety they do not constitute the offence alleged.".The Court, therefore, said that the matter needs consideration and issued notice to the informant respondent no.4. The matter will be heard next July 27. .[Read order]