Farm Laws: Delhi Court calls for FIR against Sambit Patra for sharing 'doctored' video of Arvind Kejriwal

A Delhi Court on Tuesday directed the Delhi Police to register an FIR against BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra for sharing a doctored video of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Twitter (Atishi v. State and Anr)..In the video shared on Twitter, the Delhi CM is seen supporting the three farm laws against which the farmers have been protesting..Metropolitan Magistrate Rishabh Kumar passed the order after a complaint was filed by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Atishi Marlena alleging that Patra shared those videos to provoke the farmers against CM Kejriwal..The Court noted that a careful examination of the video running into over 40 minutes showed that Kejriwal was replying to the question posed by a journalist by quoting the speeches of BJP leaders in support of the Farm laws. However, the 18-second video shared by Patra was “doctored in such a way to give them a colour as if he was speaking in support of the farm laws,” the Court said.“The fact that the impugned video was published on the twitter handle of the proposed accused with the caption “teeno farm bills ke laabh ginate hue... Sir jee”, prima facie proves that same was circulated on twitter with no intention but to cause the protesting farmers to believe that Mr. Kejriwal is supporting the farm laws, which may have perpetuated the state of outrage with the protesting farmers and may have resulted in rioting like situation across the nation,” the order stated..After going through the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) report on the authenticity of the video shared by Patra, the Court noted,"The above-mentioned findings in the FSL report clearly reflects that the impugned video is opined to have been edited/altered. Therefore, the fact that the impugned video clip was a doctored electronic record stands prima facie proved.".The judge raised questions about the Delhi Police investigation in the matter, as it failed to probe the circumstances under which the video was uploaded by Patra on his Twitter handle.“Besides, the police has also not conducted any probe to find out whether the impugned video clip was already available in public domain by associating twitter during the inquiry, so as to rule out the fabrication/ alteration of the same at the behest of proposed accused. A thorough investigation is required to be conducted on the above mentioned aspects considering the seriousness of the allegations and accordingly, this court is of the considered view that the prayer made by the complainant deserves to be accepted and the present application deserves to be allowed,” the Court said..The Court, therefore, directed the local Station House Officer to register an FIR under appropriate sections of the law and to initiate an investigation into the incident. Delhi Police is required to file a compliance and status report in the matter by February 3, 2022..[Read Order]