'Communal disharmony' case: Supreme Court says no coercive action to be taken against Congress MP and poet Imran Pratapgarhi

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted interim protection from any coercive action to Congress MP Imran Pratapgarhi in connection with an FIR lodged by the Gujarat police over his video post with a poem for allegedly promoting enmity between different groups of people.

A bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan issued notice to the state government on a plea by the lawmaker challenging the Gujarat High Court's order declining any relief to him.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the petitioner, contended that the High Court had dismissed his plea even without issuing a notice.

The Gujarat High Court on January 17, this year refused to quash the FIR for charges of promoting communal disharmony by posting a video clip with the poem “Ae khoon ke pyase baat suno... (Listen, o bloodthirsty...)” running in the background.

“Looking at the tenor of the poem, it certainly indicates something about the throne. The responses received to the said post by other persons also indicate that the message was posted in a manner which certainly creates a disturbance in social harmony," Justice Sandeep N Bhatt had said in his order.

The High Court stated that citizens of this country should “behave” in a way which doesn’t disturb communal and social harmony.

“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 a post,” the order stated.

On January 3, Rajya Sabha member Pratapgarhi was booked by the Jamnagar police for promoting enmity between different groups based on religion, race, statements prejudicial to national integration, insulting religious group or their beliefs, and abetting the commission of an offence by the public or by a group of more than ten people, among other charges.