Photo Courtesy: nenow
Agartala: The Tripura High Court refused to kill an FIR against former Chief Minister Manik Sarkar on Tuesday. A division bench of Justice T Amarnath Goud and Justice Biswajit Palit ordered the investigation to continue. The court ruled the FIR shows signs of cognizable offenses.
Sarkar faced the FIR after an August 10 political event in Agartala. Prabir Roy filed the complaint at the West Agartala police station on August 16. The case cites Sections 192, 353(1)(b), and 61(1) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023. Roy claimed Sarkar used a Bengali expression inciting violence and public disorder during a protest by trade unions and farmers. He said the speech threatened to turn a movement into an aggressive campaign.
Sarkar fought back. His legal team argued the Bengali words were mistranslated and ripped from their original context. The former Chief Minister claimed his words supported peaceful protest and urged participants to cooperate with police. He dismissed the FIR as a political hit job. The state government pushed for the probe, pointing to a tense atmosphere where 5,000 protesters broke through two security barricades near the Sadar Sub-Divisional Magistrate’s office. Officials noted the breach happened before Sarkar spoke, but maintained his words need further scrutiny.
The court stayed firm. It noted that the power to quash an FIR must be used sparingly. Judges directed investigators to review audio-visual recordings and the full context of the address. The bench noted: "The power to quash an FIR at the preliminary stage must be exercised sparingly."
The court added that the lack of an actual riot does not clear Sarkar under Section 192 of the BNS. While closing the plea, the judges advised the former CM to steer clear of hate speech in the future. They suggested he file a bail application in a lower court, promising it would be heard with appropriate conditions.
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