Supreme Court Stays Arrest Of Former Indore Law College Principal In FIR Over Library Book

The Supreme Court on Friday stayed the arrest of the now resigned principal of Indore's Government New Law College, Dr Inamur Rahman, in an FIR registered over an allegedly "Hinduphobic" book in the college library. The matter was heard by a bench comprising CJI DY Chandrachud and Justice PS Narasimha. 

The complaint was filed by a third year LLM student. The counsels for petitioner Advocate Aljo K Joseph and Abhinav P Dhanodkar submitted that the book in question was published in 2014 and purchased by the college in 2014 as well. As per the petitioner, he was a professor in the college at that time and not the Principal of the college.

CJI DY Chandrachud, while hearing the matter, remarked–

"This is not a case for arrest. You have made out more than an abundant case."

Issuing notice returnable on the 3rd week of January 2023, the bench granted the petitioner interim relief. The order reads–

"Pending further orders, there shall be a stay on the arrest of the petitioner in connection with the FIR."

As per the petition, the FIR in question was lodged by an LLM student over a book titled "Collective Violence And Criminal Justice System" written by Dr Farhat Khan (Accused 1) and published by Amar Law Publications (Accused 4). The petitioner is arrayed as Accused 2. The complainant contended that the book was based upon false and baseless facts, was anti-national in nature, and intended to harm the public peace, integrity, and religious cordiality of India. 

The petition states that the case was lodged for political reasons and the petitioner, who was not involved in the publication or the marketing of the book, was unnecessarily dragged in the case. It further states that the book was purchased not during the tenure of the petitioner, but way back in 2014, when he was merely a professor and not involved in the process of buying books for the college library. 

The petitioner approached the Supreme Court after the Madhya Pradesh High Court dismissed his application seeking interim anticipatory bail on December 15.

The petitioner resigned as the Principal after protests by the ABVP.