Indore (Madhya Pradesh): The Supreme Court dismissed the FIR filed against Inamur Rahman, the principal of Indore's New Government Law College, accused for keeping "anti-national" and "Hinduphobic" books in the library.
According to reports, some ABVP students at the college conspired against principal Rahman, accusing him of Hinduphobic and promoting anti-national ideology in the campus. The students planned the conspiracy after the principal imposed mandatory fee and attendance requirements in order to appear in the examination.
To back their claims, the students dug out a book that has been in the Law College library since 2014 that portrays RSS in a negative light. Principal Rahman was arrested by the police for promoting an anti-national book, despite the fact that the book had been bought before his tenure.
The two books in question were authored by Dr Farhat Khan and were titled ‘Collective Violence and Criminal Justice System’ and ‘Women and Criminal Law’.
He was charged under IPC sections 153-A, 153-B, 295-A, 500, 504, 505, 505(2), and 34 by the police, who were led by Home Minister Narottam Mishra. However, he was able to get anticipatory bail.
The ABVP and its allied media humiliated him and slandered with anti-Hindu & anti-national remarks. He sobbed, accused someone of defamation, and resigned. Four Muslim professors were made to quit their positions and two more were prosecuted.
Today SC bench of Justices B. R. Gavai and Sandeep Mehta pointed out, "Perusal of the FIR would reveal that the FIR is nothing but an absurdity..."
“This is a fit case where the court would exercise its jurisdiction under Article 142 and close the proceedings to prevent abuse of law and miscarriage of justice. Allowing the appeal, we, therefore, quash and set aside the FIR..."
The MP High Court was also reprimanded by the SC court for its refusal to stay the "bogus" FIR.
"Why is the state interested in getting Additional Advocate Generals (AAG) to appear in such a matter?" questioned Justice Gavai. That as well with a warning? It appears to be an obvious case of persecution! It seems like someone wants to bother the petitioner! Why is the state interested in filing a caveat? We will provide notification to the investigating officer (IO), said Justice Gavai.
