NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday directed Uttar Pradesh Bharatiya Janata Party spokesperson Prashant Umrao to tender an unconditional apology for falsely tweeting that migrant labourers from Bihar were being hanged in Tamil Nadu.
Umrao on February 23 had posted a tweet claiming that 15 migrant workers were assaulted for speaking Hindi, of which 12 had died. The police had lodged FIRs against Umrao under various sections of the Indian Penal Code for allegedly spreading wrong information under Sections 153 (wantonly giving provocation with intent to cause riot), 153A (promoting enmity between different groups), 504 (intentional insult to provoke breach of the peace) and 505 (statements conducing to public mischief).
A bench headed by Justice BR Gavai said, “He should be more responsible. Before the next date, you tender an apology.” It also modified the condition imposed on him to appear before the Investigation Officer for 15 days and instead asked him to appear before the investigating officer on April 10, 2023.
The bench while issuing notice also extended the protection from arrest to any other FIR registered in Tamil Nadu with regards to the same tweet. Court’s order came in a plea which was preferred by Umrao wherein he while seeking to modify a condition that was imposed by the Madras HC had also sought for clubbing the FIRs that were registered against him by individuals in different parts of the state.
For BJP Spokesperson, Senior Advocate Siddharth Luthra submitted that he had first put out a tweet which he deleted later. Luthra said, “On the very same substantive issues, they have filed multiple FIRs. There was a tweet by various media agencies. There was an error on my part. They are registering multiple FIRs at the behest of individuals. We are seeking for clubbing the FIRs and quashing the FIRs. I made a tweet. If there are going to be multiple FIRs where will I go? I’ll be like an animal in a ring. Going round and round. Within 12 hours when I got to know I deleted it.”
Condemning his tweet, Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for the state, told the bench that Prashant Umrao has not tendered any apology so far despite being granted anticipatory bail. “We won’t expect a responsible member of the bar to make these tweets. He has already got the bail. He is only against the conditions. He hasn’t even filed the affidavit. What is wrong in not filing the affidavit?” Rohatgi said.
