The Supreme Court on Thursday granted seven-day interim protection to Anirban Das, an activist who is apprehending arrest in a criminal case lodged against him for a Facebook post against West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
A Vacation Bench led by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi gave him relief after his counsel, Deepak Kumar Jena, said Mr. Das was compelled to approach the apex court for legal remedy owing to the lawyers’ strike in West Bengal.
Mr. Das said the police were acting at the behest of their political masters and his personal liberty was at stake. “The petitioner only made a general criticism against the government of the day on Facebook, but the police registered an FIR,” he said in his plea.
He alleged that the FIR was meant to stifle his fundamental right of expression and the case against him was false.
Mr. Das informed the court that he had already tendered an unconditional apology to the person concerned, the president of Alipurduar Town Block Trinamool Youth Congress Committee, Madan Ghosh, who lodged an FIR against him on April 25.
