Bombay High Court grants anticipatory bail to Sameet Thakkar in Thane FIR

The Bombay High Court on Tuesday granted anticipatory bail to Sameet Thakkar, who was booked by the Thane Police for allegedly making defamatory tweets against a Maharashtra Cabinet Minister. .Thakkar was booked based on a complaint filed by Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Dinesh Bane, who had allegedly come across a tweet on Thakkar's twitter handle against NCP leader Jitendra Awhad. The prosecution's case was that due to the action of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on drug peddlers, the political atmosphere between Cabinet Minister Nawab Malik and other BJP leaders has been disturbed . Bane's apprehension was that, in this backdrop, there was a possibility that Thakkar may have posted more such content deliberately to create animosity between the two political parties. A complaint was thus filed and Thakkar was booked under Sections 505(2) (statements creating or promoting enmity, hatred or ill-will between classes), 500 and 501 (defamation) of the Indian Penal Code. .Thakkar approached the Sessions Court at Thane with an application for anticipatory bail after he received a notice under Section 41A of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The Sessions Court rejected his application. He then approached the High Court through advocate Madan Gupta, apprehending arrest. .Advocate Hrishikesh Mundargi appearing for Thakkar argued that the ingredients of Section 505(2) were not made out as the tweet did not create any hatred between two groups, communities or classes. He claimed that a first information report came to be registered due to political pressure for an innocent tweet, which merely criticised ministers like Awhad and Malik.He further contended that all the allegations made against him were with a malicious intent to falsely implicate him. The FIR too, he claimed, was nothing but an abuse of the process of law..After hearing the submissions for a while, Justice Nitin Sambre opined that while he was not convinced with the submissions on merit, he felt that Thakkar's custody was not required in the case. He, however, asked Thakkar to make a statement that he will stop putting any such defamatory content. Considering the statement made by Thakkar as an undertaking to the Court, Justice Sambre opined that since custody is not required, protection could be granted. .In the event of arrest, Thakkar was directed to be released upon furnishing a bail bond of ₹25,000 with one or two sureties of like amount. He was directed to cooperate with the investigation and not tamper with evidence and witnesses. In the event of failure to comply with the conditions, the Thane Police is at liberty to move for cancellation of bail.