SC stays FIRs against CSDS Professor Sanjay Kumar over erroneous Maharashtra Election tweet
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday (August 25) stayed the FIRs registered by the Maharashtra Police against Professor Sanjay Kumar, noted psephologist and Co-Director of the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS), over a mistaken tweet analyzing the 2024 Maharashtra Assembly Elections.
A bench comprising Chief Justice of India BR Gavai and Justice NV Anjaria passed the interim order while issuing notice on Kumar's writ petition seeking the quashing of the FIRs.
During the hearing, Kumar’s counsel highlighted his “30 years of conscientious service” and emphasized that the tweet was a genuine mistake for which the professor had promptly issued a public apology and deleted the post.
“You withdrew also,” CJI Gavai noted, to which the counsel replied, “I deleted, I apologized publicly, after that, an FIR!”
Despite observing that “normally we would not have entertained this,” the bench issued notice and granted a stay on the FIRs.
On August 17, Kumar had posted an analysis on X (formerly Twitter) about changes in voter numbers in certain constituencies. However, realizing the analysis was flawed, he posted a public apology on August 19 and clarified that the earlier post was an error.
Despite the retraction, FIRs were lodged in Nashik and Nagpur under various sections of the Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, including Sections 175, 212, 340(1)(2), 353(1)(b), and 356.
Kumar’s petition, filed through AoR Sumeer Sodhi, contended that the FIRs are “an abuse of State power” and that the invoked criminal provisions were “demonstrably inapplicable.” The petition argued that a bona fide error cannot be equated with criminal intent, and that such action has a chilling effect on free speech.
“A tweet giving wrong information cannot form the basis of an FIR for offences such as forgery... The officers reporting to the Election Commission have chosen to lodge FIRs for a mere technical error that was instantly corrected,” the petition stated.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Rupee settles 1 paisa higher to close at 94.15 against US dollar
Mumbai (PTI): The rupee settled with gains of just one paisa to close at 94.15 against the US dollar on Monday, as rising global uncertainty, escalating tensions in West Asia and soaring crude oil prices weighed on investor sentiments.
Forex traders said the INR/USD pair pared its initial losses, but the overall bias remains negative as FII sell-off and elevated crude oil prices restricted the gains for the local unit.
At the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee opened at 94.25 against the US dollar, and touched an intraday high of 94.11 and a low of 94.28 against the greenback during the day.
At the end of Monday's trading session, the rupee was quoted at 94.15, registering a gain of just 1 paisa over its previous close.
On Friday, the rupee extended its losing streak for the fifth day in a row, depreciating 15 paise to close at 94.16 against the US dollar.
"The rupee snapped a five-session losing streak, rebounding in tandem with a rally across regional currencies. However, the mood remains apprehensive as the market braces for a potential RBI intervention around 94.30 and higher crude oil prices," said Dilip Parmar – Senior Research Analyst, HDFC Securities.
On the charts, the USDINR pair has reclaimed its upward momentum, carving out a classic bullish structure of higher highs and lows on the daily time frame, he said, adding that for the coming sessions, 93.80 serves as a support, with 94.40 acting as the primary hurdle.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was down 0.21 per cent at 98.32.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was trading higher by 2.36 per cent at USD 107.82 per barrel in futures trade.
On the domestic equity market front, Sensex jumped 639.42 points to settle at 77,303.63, while the Nifty surged 194.75 points to 24,092.70.
Foreign Institutional Investors offloaded equities worth Rs 1,151.48 crore on Monday, according to exchange data.
Meanwhile, India's forex reserves jumped by USD 2.362 billion to USD 703.308 billion during the week ended April 17, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said on Friday.
In the previous reporting week, the forex kitty had increased by USD 3.825 billion to USD 700.946 billion.
