Karnataka High Court grants interim protection against deportation to actor Chetan Kumar but asks him to delete tweets against judiciary

The Karnataka High Court on Friday granted interim protection from deportation to actor and social activist Chetan Kumar while directing the government to refrain from cancelling his Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) card till the next date of hearing [Chetan Kumar v Union of India]..Cancellation of OCI card would make Kumar an illegal immigrant in the country leading to his deportation. Justice M Nagaprasanna afforded interim protection to Kumar subject to him filing an affidavit undertaking that he will not put out any tweets against the judiciary and all existing tweets against judiciary would be deleted. "Therefore, the aforesaid protection order, during the pendency of the petition, shall be on the condition that the petitioner files an affidavit of undertaking within the next 4 days, from the receipt of a certified copy of the order that he would encourage restraint on the tweets qua judiciary and matters that are sub-judice and further undertakes that he would delete the tweets that are against the judiciary and matters that are sub-judice," the order said..Kumar's OCI card was proposed to be cancelled on the allegation that he was indulging in anti-India activities. However, it was argued that he was entitled to an opportunity of hearing apart from the issuance of a show cause notice, neither of which were afforded to him. .On examining the material, the Court noted that prima facie the ingredients had not been met."The acts of the petitioner must be established that it is inimical to the national interest, for which the respondents need to justify by way of filing the statement of objections," the single-judge reasoned. .Therefore, interim protection was granted till the next date of hearing in June with a clarification that any violation of the undertaking by Kumar would entail an automatic vacation of the protection. .The actor had earlier been sent to 14-day judicial custody by a Bengaluru Court for the offence of hurting religious sentiments.He was also booked last year under the Indian Penal Code for posting a tweet about Justice Krishna Dixit of the Karnataka High Court when he was part of the bench hearing the hijab ban matter.The tweet said that Justice Dixit, who had made disturbing comments in a rape case, is now determining whether hijabs are acceptable in government schools, and questioned whether he has the clarity to do so.Chetan was later granted bail in the case..Senior Advocate Aditya Sondhi appeared for the petitioner. Deputy Solicitor General of India Shanthi Bhushan and Additional Advocate General Aruna Shyam represented the respondents. .[Read Order]