Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Monday granted relief to the former editor of an Urdu newspaper by directing the police to not file a charge sheet against her.
A division bench comprising Justices V.M. Kanade and Nutan Sardessai was hearing the plea of Shirin Dalvi, former editor of Avadhnama , for reproducing caricatures from French weekly Charlie Hebdo on January 17, 2015. The material was labelled to be controversial that hurt religious sentiments and five FIRs were registered against her.
Ms. Dalvi had even issued a clarification denying any intention to hurt religious sentiments and tendered a public clarification the very next day. However, cases have been registered against her in different police stations in Mumbra and Rabodi (Thane district), Malegaon and Mumbai on charges of violating IPC section 295A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its beliefs) which is punishable with imprisonment up to three years, or with fine, or with both.
Her petition said she had published an apology and the article doesn’t resemble or imitate the cartoon published by Charlie Hebdo . It also states that in her official capacity, have only exercised her fundamental right to speech and expression.
On January 23, she was granted pre-arrest bail arrest by Judge S.D. Tekale at the City Civil and Sessions Court. On January 28, she was arrested in Mumbra, Thane district, and granted bail the same day. After moving the HC, she was granted protection from arrest and the police was directed not to take coercive steps against her from time to time.
On Monday, the court, while directing the police not to file charge sheet in the cases against Ms. Dalvi pending the final hearing and disposal of her petition, said, “These days people are hyper-sensitive about such matters.”
