The Rajasthan High Court on Wednesday passed an interim order staying the criminal proceedings initiated with regard to an April 10 tweet put out by BJP’s National IT wing head, Amit Malviya allegedly mocking Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.
While adjourning the plea filed by Malviya regarding quashing of the criminal proceedings to July 10 Justice Vinit Kumar Mathur stated,
“In the meanwhile, effect and operation of the FIR No.216/2020 registered with Police Station Hanumangarh Town, Hanumangarh alongwith entire proceedings pursuant thereto qua the present petitioner shall remain stayed.”
This development came a day after Justice Pushpendra Singh Bhati had stayed the FIR registered against BJP National President JP Nadda who had retweeted Malviya’s tweet.
On April 10, while quoting an extract from an article by ThePrint, Malviya had questioned the veracity of claims of Congress Leader Rahul Gandhi’s warnings regarding COVID-19 had led to the testing of 22 lakh people in Rajasthan’s Bhilwara.
Malviya had tweeted, “Sonia Gandhi claims Bhilwara tested 22 lakh people due to Rahul’s warning! Wherever there is Rahul (Gandhi), can exaggeration and maths blunder be behind?“
Terming the tweet to be disparaging, a Hanumangarh Congress worker had fied a complaint against BJP President Nadda who had retweeted the same.
On Tuesday, Nadda asserted that he had no personal role to play in the same as he had merely retweeted Malviya’s tweet. He further stated that the tweet was made from Malviya’s personal account and not from the BJP’s official twitter handle.
The High Court while stayed the FIR against Nadda, observed,
“… this Court prima-facie finds that the tweet has been made by Shri Amit Malviya and the present petitioner has no role in tweeting the information in question. The tweet is apparently from the private tweeting handle of Shri Amit Malviya, and therefore, no role at this stage seems to be made out against the present petitioner.”
Read the Amit Malviya Order here:
Read the J.P. Nadda Order here:
