Plea Filed In Bombay HC Against Rahul Gandhi, Dhruv Rathee, Uddhav Thackeray For Allegedly Spreading False Narratives About 'EVM Hacking'

A petition has been filed in the Bombay High Court seeking contempt proceedings against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Shiv Sena (UBT) leaders Uddhav Thackeray, Aditya Thackeray, Sanjay Raut and YouTuber Dhruv Rathee, for allegedly interfering in a sub-judice matter.

As per the petition, the respondents – Rahul Gandhi and others, had posted on the social media platform 'X', a story by newspaper 'Mid-Day', about an FIR being registered for hacking of EVMs allegedly by the family members of Ravindra Waikar, a Shiv Sena Leader from the Shinde faction. The petition claims that the said news item was factually wrong and the newspaper had issued an apology for the same. However, the respondents continued to create false narratives about the issue.

The petitioner seeks to take action against the respondents for “their highly unlawful activities by spreading false narratives and conspiracy theories and interfering with the investigation and due process of law.”

The petition alleges that Dhruv Rathee and other respondents are habitual in creating false narratives and conspiracy theories to prejudice pending investigation and sub-judice cases. It alleges that they try to mislead the people and influence the citizens by creating different perceptions to serve their "ulterior purposes".

The petitioner has contended that the act of the respondents is in violation of Bombay High Court's order in Nilesh Navlakha vs Union of India (2021), where guidelines were laid down for the media to avoid resorting to 'media trial'. As per the petition, the conduct of the respondents is in clear violation of the judgment which declared that media trial or any attempt to interfere with a sub-judice matter will be a criminal contempt and be punishable under section 2(c) of the Contempt of Courts Act.

The matter was listed before division bench of Justice Shyam Chandak and Justice Mohite-Dere.

The petitioner had filed an interim application seeking recusal of Justice Revati Mohite-Dere from hearing the instant matter on the ground that Justice Dere's sister is closely associated with Sharad Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).

However, the bench refused to hear the main matter itself saying it was wrongly placed before it. The petitioners have been asked to approach the Chief Justice and seek listing of their plea before an appropriate bench.

The petitioner prays for punishing the respondents under Secretion 2(b) and 12 of the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971. Further, the petitioner prayed the court to direct police officials to register FIR against the respondents for misusing public machinery and creating false evidences with regard to pending investigation under Sections 192, 193, 107, 409, 120(b) and 34 of IPC.

The petitioner also prayed for constitution of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) including CBI, IB and ED to investigate “…in the greater conspiracy to spread false narratives and conspiracy theories...” and “…spreading hatred and disharmony among citizens about various Government institutions and also against the country with ulterior motive of obstructing the progress and development of this country.”

(Inputs by Sanjana Dadmi)

Case title: Sh. Mursalin A. Shaikh vs. Shri Dhruv Rathee and ors.