The Supreme Court on Friday said that the right to free speech is not unrestricted and denied anticipatory bail to a 24-year-old Bengaluru-based chartered accountancy student over a social media post made from his parody account, ‘Jawaharlal Nehru Satire’, on X, concerning the Prime Minister and his mother.
The court, however, said that the student was free to approach the Gujarat High Court for relief.
“People who abuse free speech cannot be extended discretionary relief by the courts,” the Supreme Court said while dismissing the petition.
The plea had sought quashing of the FIR registered by Ahmedabad police and protection from arrest to enable the petitioner to join the investigation. The court refused to grant anticipatory bail or interim protection.
Counsel for the accused argued that the student had merely questioned a post that he had not generated himself.
“For this he is being accused of outraging the woman’s modesty. Police from Gujarat visited his house and he was detained at a Bengaluru police station without following the procedure of law,” the counsel said.
“Police are threatening that they will arrest him. He is ready to cooperate with the investigation but requires protection from arrest,” he added.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi said, “You do not have any sense of remorse or repentance for the abusive words you used against her.”
The counsel submitted that the petitioner was only a student, expressed repentance for the post, and sought at least protection from arrest.
Rejecting the plea, the bench said, “Petitioner who has abused his free speech right cannot be extended discretionary relief by the court.”
The FIR was registered following a complaint filed on November 7 by an Ahmedabad resident, alleging that the accused had posted defamatory content against the Prime Minister and his mother to “harm their dignity, reputation and tarnish India’s standing in the international community.”
Following the registration of the FIR, Ahmedabad police travelled to Bengaluru to question the accused. X subsequently withheld the account.
The petitioner alleged that Ahmedabad police, in coordination with Bengaluru police, violated his fundamental rights under Articles 14, 19 and 21 of the Constitution by illegally detaining him at a cyber crime police station and threatening him with arrest.
