Wednesday, October 28, 2020

Section 41A CrPC cannot be used by police to intimidate or harass: Supreme Court


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The Bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and Indira Banerjee made these observations in a case where a 29-year-old woman, Roshni Biswas, was pulled up by the Kolkata Police for posting objectionable content on Facebook. 

An FIR was registered against Biswas for posting on Facebook that lockdown norms were being violated in Kolkata's Raja Bazaar area and that the police was complacent in taking action in the area to safeguard "a particular community."

Cognizant as the Court is of the underlying principles which restrain the exercise of judicial review in the matter of police investigation, equally, the court must safeguard the fundamental right to the freedom of expression under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution. There is a need to ensure that the power under section 41A is not used to intimidate, threaten and harass."

Supreme Court

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