Breaking: Rajasthan HC grants stay on arrest of Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey

The Jodhpur Bench of the Rajasthan High Court today granted a stay on the arrest of Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey in the case filed against him for hurting religious sentiments and defaming Brahmins..A Single Judge Bench of Justice Pushpendra Singh Bhati granted the stay after Dorsey filed a petition in the High Court seeking to quash the FIR lodged against him under Sections 295A, 500, 501, 504, 505 and 120-B of the Indian Penal Code..The complaint was filed after Dorsey had held up a placard stating ‘Smash Brahmanical Patriarchy’ at a meeting he attended during his visit to India. It was alleged that the act amounted to spreading hatred against Brahmins and “destroying Indian culture”, and that people from other castes and communities would be incited to commit crimes against Brahmins..The petition states after Dorsey had attended a meeting at Twitter’s Delhi office to discuss online abuse faced by women, a Dalit woman who shared her story of abuse gave the placard to Dorsey as a gift..“The Petitioner, being unaware about the full and complex meaning of the placard, happened to be holding the gifted placard during the group photo.”.One of the participants of the meeting later tweeted the group photo, without asking Dorsey’s permission to do so, the petition states..This led Jodhpur resident Rajkumar Sharma to file a complaint first with the police, and then with the Metropolitan Magistrate, Jodhpur under Section 156(3) of the Code of Criminal Procedure..“…Respondent No. 2 had intentionally and maliciously made misleading and false averments against the Petitioner that the alleged tweet was published by the Petitioner, whereas infact, the tweet was shared by one of the female participants…”.The Magistrate thereafter directed the filing of an FIR against Dorsey on December 1, and the same was registered on December 4..Dorsey has contended that since he did not publish the photo online, or retweet it, no offence has been committed by him. Further, the deliberate and malicious intent that is required to prove an offence under Section 295A, could not be proved in this case..“The placard does not outrage the Hindu religion and accordingly does not offend the religion or religious beliefs of Brahmins. It is pertinent to note here that neither was the holding of the photograph, an endorsement of its content and most certainly the intent was not to disrupt public order.”.Therefore, Dorsey prayed that the FIR lodged against be quashed..The High Court today granted a stay on Dorsey’s arrest, and issued notice in the matter. It was further observed that there was no prima facie case for interrogation, and that Dorsey can be represented before the police through his lawyers..The matter will be taken up after six weeks..He was represented by Senior Advocate Mahesh Jethmalani, who was briefed by a team from Karanjawala & Co. led by Senior Partner Sandeep Kapur along with Principal Associate Vir Inder Pal Singh Sandhu, Associates Abhimanshu Dhyani and Tushar Thakur and advocate Ravi Sharma..Read the petition: