Calcutta High Court Quashes Case Against BJP Leader Kailash Vijayvargiya Over Allegedly Misleading Post On 'X'

The Calcutta High Court has quashed a case against BJP leader Kailash Vijayvargiya, accused under Sections 504/505(1)(b)/120B of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, for allegedly misleading posts regarding workers belonging to the ruling party posted on his X (Twitter) account.

It was alleged by the State that Vijayvargiya had shared a fake video of women being assaulted on his X handle and claimed that the ruling party workers were behind the assault. It was argued that this post led to widespread disruption of peace in the area.

In quashing the case against Vijayvargiya, a single bench of Justice Ajay Kumar Gupta held:

All Sections mentioned in the instant case or started against the Petitioner are non-cognizable in nature...In the light of above discussion and upon perusal of the Judgments referred by the learned counsel for the petitioner and the legal Maxim “Sublato Fundamento Cadit Opus” meaning thereby “initial action by the Police Authority without following the provision as laid down in the Criminal Procedure Code is bad, all subsequent actions are bad” are squarely applicable in the present case.

Background

It was stated that Opposite Party No. 2 alleged that the Petitioner (Vijayvargiya) shared pictures of two women being assaulted and humiliated by some persons via social media through his Twitter account. Such an incident allegedly took place in the area of the informant. However, the informant stated that the entire episode is absolutely fallacious and it was because of such misleading information and statements, a tension was created in the said region, thereby leading to a disturbance of the peace in the locality.

On the basis of such a written complaint, a First Information Report was registered against the Petitioner for initiating an investigation.

 The Petitioner asserted that he is an eminent, distinguished and renowned political figure from the opposition party of the State. Furthermore, it is also stated that at the time of lodging such a complaint, he was the National General Secretary of the opposition party of the State. 

It was stated that after the results of the West Bengal Assembly Elections were declared, the Ruling Party due to political vendetta, falsely initiated the present case against the Petitioner, even though the alleged offences are noncognizable in nature, which does not empower the police authority to investigate without order of the Magistrate.

It was stated that no direction has ever been passed under Section 155 (2) of the Cr.PC by the Magistrate before investigation. Furthermore, the offence as alleged by the complainant does not fulfil the essential ingredients of any criminal offence whatsoever as such registration of the First Information Report by the police authority is illegal and harassing the petitioner. Consequently, the Petitioner approached with this

Agreeing with the submissions of the petitioner, the court held that the offences were indeed non-cognizable, and since the police started investigating them without the approval of the magistrate, their initial action had rendered the present prosecution void.

Accordingly, the case was quashed.

Case: Kailash Vijayvargiya Versus The State of West Bengal and Another 

Case No: C.R.R. 2043 of 2021

Citation: 2024 LiveLaw (Cal) 233

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