Supreme Court stays case against Congress MP Imran Pratapgarhi booked for social media post

The Supreme Court on Tuesday stayed proceedings in a case registered against Congress Member of Parliament (MP) Imran Pratapgarhi for a poem posted by him on social media..The Bench of Justice AS Oka and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan issued notice on Prataparghi's plea seeking quashing of the First Information Report (FIR) registered by Jamnagar police on January 3."We heard the poem also.... Issue short notice. Returnable on Feb 10. No action shall be taken in pursuance to the FIR registered," the Court ordered..Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal represented Pratapgarhi. "What have we come to? The court has to say something. Without issuing notice the (High) Court ordered this (to be dismissed)," he said..Pratapgarhi was booked by the police on a complaint moved an advocate's clerk. According to the Deccan Herald, it was alleged that the Congress MP had posted a video on social media with a poem "ae khoon ke pyase baat suno..." running in the background.Gujarat Police have invoked Section 197 (imputations, assertions prejudicial to national integration), 299 (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting it religion or religious beliefs) and 302 (Uttering words, etc., with deliberate intent to wound religious feelings of any person) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) against him..The Gujarat High Court on January 17 refused to quash the FIR against Pratapgarhi . "As the investigation is at a very nascent stage, I find no reason to exercise my powers under Section 528 of the Bharatiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 or under Article 226 of the Constitution of India," Justice Sandeep N Bhat said in the order.The single-judge also remarked that the responses received to the social media post indicate that message was posted in a manner "which certainly create disturbance in social harmony.""It is expected from any citizen of India that he should behave in a manner where the communal harmony or social harmony should not be disturbed and the petitioner, who is a Member of Parliament, is expected to behave in some more restricted manner as he is expected to know more about the repercussions of such post," the High Court said.Pratapgarhi then moved the top court