[BREAKING] Toolkit case: Supreme Court dismisses appeal against stay on Raman Singh, Sambit Patra probe

The Supreme Court today dismissed an appeal filed by the Chhattisgarh government against the High Court order that stayed the probe against former Chief Minister Raman Singh and BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra in relation to the toolkit case (State of Chhattisgarh v. Raman Singh)..The Bench of Chief Justice of India NV Ramana and Justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli observed,"We are not inclined to interfere. Let the High Court decide the matter expeditiously. Appeal dismissed. Let not the observations come in the way of deciding the case on merits.".The Chhattisgarh High Court on June 11 passed two separate orders granting interim relief to Singh and Patra, while noting that averments in the FIR lodged against them reflected that no public peace or tranquillity is being adversely affected and it is purely political rivalry between two political parties..[BREAKING] "Political grudge:" Chhattisgarh High Court stays FIR against BJP leader Raman Singh for tweet in relation to alleged Congress toolkit.Justice Narendra Kumar Vyas had observed that the FIR against Singh was registered out of malafides and a political grudge."Considering the facts of the case and perusal of FIR, prima face no case is made out against the petitioner and criminal proceedings is manifestly attended against the petitioner with malafides or political grudge," the Court held.Hence, continuation of investigation based on the FIR registered against Singh on May 19 would be an abuse of process of law, the Court ruled while staying the FIR..In its appeal against the order in Raman Singh case, the State government said that on June 11, at the stage of admission, the High Court not only admitted the frivolous petition, but also erroneously granted interim relief sought by Raman Singh by staying the investigation arising out of the FIR. It sought setting aside of the orders on the ground that the top court has time and again held that extraordinary powers of the High Court under Article 226 of the Constitution ought to be used sparingly and in rarest of rare cases..The State government had further said that the High Court erred in exercising such powers and opposed staying the entire investigation at a nascent stage, especially when ex-facie offence of forgery is made out..The appeal said that the State has been carrying out an investigation in accordance with law and considering the pandemic, has been fair in its conduct. The accused was given an opportunity to be present at his own house as per the notice sent to him and when the second notice was sent to him, he was given an option to be present through his lawyer..The FIR had been registered based on a complaint filed by one Akash Sharma, who is the State President of the National Student Union of India.Singh had tweeted a document alleging that it was a toolkit created by Congress party to tarnish the image of the country and Narendra Modi. The Congress party had denied such claims and had maintained that the document was forged to tarnish the reputation of the party.Based on Sharma's complaint, the police had registered a case against Singh for offences under Sections 504 (Intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace), 505 (public mischief), 469 (forgery) and 188 (Disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) of the Indian Penal Code.The Court stated that the offence under Sections 504 and 505 are not made out since public peace or tranquillity was not affected by the tweet..On the offence of forgery under Section 469, the Court said that from a perusal of the FIR, it was apparent that ingredients of forgery and intent to harm reputation are not made out as the attached document was already in the public domain much prior to the time petitioner tweeted the message.Regarding Section 188, the Court noted that there was no compliance with Section 195 of the Code of Criminal Procedure which lays down conditions for prosecution for contempt of lawful authority of public servants..[Read Live Thread].Follow Bar and Bench channel on WhatsAppDownload the Bar and Bench Mobile app for instant access to the latest legal news.