Mumbai: Preventive detention of a city resident for uploading a video critical of a BJP MLA appeared to be “motivated”, and personal liberty cannot be curtailed just because elections are underway, a court here has said. In an order Tuesday, the sessions court ordered immediate release of Rakesh Kanojia who was detained by police on April 12 under the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).
According to the suburban Santacruz police, Kanojia had allegedly uploaded a video where he criticised BJP leader Ashish Shelar, an MLA from suburban Bandra, “with the intention to harm his (Shelar’s) reputation”. Police detained Kanojia under the CrPC, saying there was apprehension that his acts could “promote enmity between different groups” amid the ongoing elections. A magistrate’s court sent him to police custody till April 26, after which Kanojia moved the sessions court challenging the order.
Additional Sessions Judge N L More observed Tuesday that if the police thought that Kanojia had committed a serious offence, an FIR should have been registered under the IPC and the Information Technology Act. Police should have taken action under Section 107 of the CrPC (under which a magistrate can ask a person to show cause why he should not be asked to execute a bond if it is feared that the person might commit breach of peace), the judge said. However, “without availing of the recourse of law, it seems that police officer arrested the accused and sought further detention,” the judge said. “The act of police officer appears to be motivated. The personal liberty of a person cannot be curtailed by such fashion only because parliament election is going on,” the court observed.
