Tripura Violence: SC Orders Police To Cease Any Action Against Activist's Tweets

SC issued an order to Tripura police to restrain from taking any action against Samiullah Shabbir Khan.

A number of Muslim residences, shops, and mosques in Tripura were allegedly vandalised during protests organised by Hindu right-wing groups in October last year

(The Quint/Erum Gour)

The Supreme Court has issued an order to the Tripura police to restrain from taking any action against activist-journalist Samiullah Shabbir Khan for his tweets on violence in Tripura that happened in October last year, reported LiveLaw.

The bench, consisting of Justices DY Chandrachud and AS Bopanna, was hearing the pleas moved by the Association for Protection of Civil Rights against the Tripura Police for invoking the UAPA Act against over a 100 people for their comments on social media regarding the violence.

Additionally, the bench also recorded the statement of Advocate Shahrukh Alam, speaking on behalf of Shabbir Khan, “Writing about violence will certainly not attract any of the offences…”

According to LiveLaw, Advocate Alam, in addition to the notice on the writ petition, also sought a stay of the impugned notice seeking details of Khan’s Twitter, as it amounts to an “invasion of privacy”.

The cyber cell of the Tripura Police had also sent a notice to Twitter to remove Khan’s tweets under Section 91 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC).

The police had also ordered Twitter to hand over personal details of Khan, such as the IP address and phone number for investigation regarding the criminal cases registered against him.

In October last year, a series of rallies had been conducted in Tripura by Hindu right-wing groups, in the wake of the violence against Hindus in Bangladesh during Durga Puja festivities. A number of Muslim residences, shops, and mosques were allegedly vandalised during these protests.

(With inputs from LiveLaw)