The Allahabad high court has granted interim protection to journalist Vineet Narain and one Rajneesh Kapur, who were booked for creating allegations of land grabbing against Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader Champat Rai and his brothers.
A Division Bench of Justices Surya Prakash Kesarwani and Piyush Agrawal, also opined that the primary information report cannot clear be sustained visible of the law laid down by the Supreme Court in State of Haryana et al. vs. Bhajan Lal.
"Considering the facts and circumstances of the case, as an interim measure it's as long as pursuant to the impugned first information report the petitioners in both the writ petitions shall not be arrested till the subsequent date fixed, i.e. July 27, 2021," the Court ordered.
The state police had filed a case against Narain and two others for alleging that Champat Rai Ram Temple Trust and VHP members were involved in grabbing of land from a gaushala in Bijnor.
They were charged for offences including under Sections 153A (promoting enmity between religions), 193 (false evidence), 295A (hurting religious sentiments), 465 (forgery) of Indian legal code and Sections 66D, 71 and 74 of knowledge Technology Act.
The counsel for petitioner submitted that no offence will be made out from the FIR and it's been lodged malafide.
After perusing the FIR, the Court clear agreed with the contention of the petitioner, stating that "bare perusal of the primary information report shows that whether or not the allegations made within the impugned first information report are taken in their entirety they are doing not constitute the offence alleged."