HC stays criminal proceedings against man booked for FB post expressing anguish over wife's death

The application was filed seeking to quash the chargesheet dated October 31, 2020 and entire proceedings in the matter.The counsel for the petitioner submitted that the proceedings have been initiated pursuant to an FIR filed on July 25 last year containing allegations primarily relating to a Facebook post which is essentially an expression of anguish of the applicant due to the death of his wife.


PTI | Allahabad | Updated: 24-07-2021 00:14 IST | Created: 24-07-2021 00:13 IST
HC stays criminal proceedings against man booked for FB post expressing anguish over wife's death
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The Allahabad High Court has stayed criminal proceedings against a man booked for his Facebook post expressing anguish over the death of his wife during treatment at a hospital.

Justice Dr. Yogendra Kumar Srivastava passed the order Tuesday on a plea filed by one Ashok Kumar Gautam against whom proceedings have been initiated over his Facebook post.

The order was uploaded on the court's website Friday. The application was filed seeking to quash the chargesheet dated October 31, 2020 and entire proceedings in the matter.

The counsel for the petitioner submitted that the proceedings have been initiated pursuant to an FIR filed on July 25 last year containing allegations primarily relating to a Facebook post which is essentially an expression of anguish of the applicant due to the death of his wife. It is pointed out that the applicant submitted a complaint to the Chief Medical Officer, District Meerut, on September 21, 2020. The counsel submitted that the entire proceedings are malicious and initiated only with a view to cause harassment to the applicant.

Hearing the petition, the court observed, ''Prima facie, matter requires consideration. Issue notice to opposite party returnable by 1st September, 2021. Opposite parties may file their counter-affidavits within four weeks. ''Rejoinder affidavit may be filed within two weeks thereafter. Let the matter appear in the additional cause list on 1st September, 2021. Till the next date of listing, further proceedings, in the Case No. 937 of 2021 shall remain stayed,'' it said.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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