Criminal charges against a man who reportedly made fun of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and other political figures on YouTube have been dropped by the Calcutta High Court.
“After careful scrutiny of the materials available in the case diary, this court does not find any sufficient or cogent evidence or even prima facie case against the present petitioner. Mere filing of charge sheet without any material or shaky evidence would not suffice the purpose of continuing trial against the petitioner,” Justice Ajay Kumar Gupta pronounced.
He added, “Even if, for the sake of argument, if the proceeding is continued, the possibility of conviction of petitioner appears bleak and remote and as such the continuation of the criminal proceedings would put the accused to great oppression and prejudice. Therefore, the continuation of the criminal proceedings would not be justifiable and to secure the ends of justice, the proceeding is deserved to be quashed.“
The petitioner sought to prevent proceedings resulting from the complaint by filing a criminal revision application under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. According to the complaint, he and others planned to post demeaning videos of Mamata Banerjee and other leaders on YouTube in 2022.
The petitioner argued that he has been wrongfully implicated and maintained his innocence, saying he had nothing to do with the alleged act. He contended that the criminal procedures were started with malicious intent and with a hidden agenda to exact vengeance against him. He pleaded that permitting the procedures to move forward would constitute an abuse of the court system and cause him to endure excessive harassment.
It was also asserted that since the case featured disparaging words against the Chief Minister, the investigating officer mechanically filed the charge sheet without carrying out a proper investigation. The trial court took cognizance of the matter based solely on the charge sheet’s submission, without using judicial discretion or independently evaluating the contents, even though there was insufficient prima facie evidence.
The state’s attorney claimed that the inquiry had produced enough evidence to create a prima facie case against the petitioner in accordance with sections 153, 500, 501, 509, 505, and 120B of the Indian Penal Code. Additionally, it was stated that the petitioner actively participated in the YouTube broadcast of a speech and video that attacked the Chief Minister and other politicians with a specific goal of defaming them.
Despite the gravity of the accusations, especially in light of the 2021 assembly elections, the court noted that the investigating officer only used witness (Soheb Khan and Happy Khan) accounts under Section 161 of the CrPC when drafting the charge sheet and did not get any video footage as proof.
“From the entire case records, this court does not find the mobile was sent for expert opinion to ascertain that the same gadget was used for broadcasting of alleged derogatory video or speech with sole intent to malign people and provoke breach of peace by endangering social harmony within the society. Furthermore, no data of video clips or speech was retrieved from the YouTube channel to substantiate at least prima facie allegations made by the complainant,” it observed.
Consequently, the court cited the absence of evidence in the charge sheet and dismissed the case against the petitioner, citing the Supreme Court’s well-established stance on such matters.
Saif Salim filed a complaint on 30th June 2022, claiming (inter alia) among other things that the petitioner had engaged in a criminal conspiracy with others on or before 29th June and mocked Mamata Banerjee and other leaders on the social media platform “YouTube” with the specific intent of discrediting them and stimulating a violation of peace by jeopardizing social harmony in the community.
