The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Wednesday stayed the FIR proceedings initiated against cartoonist Bala for the online publication of a ‘defaming’ cartoon on the death of four persons in Tirunelveli, reportedly due to harassment by usurers.
Justice S.S. Sundar directed the issuance of notice to the District Collector, Tirunelveli and the District Crime Branch Police, Tirunelveli, asking them to file their counters within four weeks.
The cartoonist had filed a petition before the High Court, seeking the quashing of the FIR filed against him by the Crime Branch Police. The FIR was registered under Section 501 (Printing or engraving matter known to be defamatory) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Section 67 (Punishment for publishing or transmitting obscene material in electronic form) of the Information Technology Act, 2000.
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The petitioner contended that the case was registered under Section 67 of the Information Technology Act, which was a non-cognisable offence. However, the Crime Branch had no power to proceed with the investigation without getting prior permission from the court, which was mandatory under Section 155 (2) of the CrPC (Code of Criminal Procedure) for non-cognisable offences.
Bala was arrested on the charges of defaming the Chief Minister, the District Collector and the Superintendent of Police in a caricature drawn by him.