Calcutta High Court asks police not to take action against BJP's Amit Malviya (for now) over Saraswati Pooja tweet

The Calcutta High Court on Wednesday ordered the West Bengal Police not to take any coercive action against Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) IT Cell chief Amit Malviya, who was booked for allegedly inciting communal hatred [Amit Malviya v. State of West Bengal]..Justice Jay Sengupta said he will decide if the tweet posted by Malviya on social media platform X on the alleged stoppage of Saraswati Pooja in schools across the State, could amount to inciting communal hatred."Let the State file its response to the plea. Till then there shall be no coercive action against the petitioner. Also, for interrogation, if any, the earlier orders to interrogate him virtually, will continue," the Court ordered..Malviya moved the High Court to quash the First Information Report (FIR) lodged against him for a tweet he posted on February 7 accusing Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury of vandalising idols of Goddess Saraswati. He had also accused West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of polluting the State with her 'communal politics' by discontinuing the annual Saraswati Pooja in schools across West Bengal."Saraswati Puja is on 14th Feb. Days before the puja, several hundred murtis of Maa Saraswati were vandalised in West Bengal’s Berhampore, constituency of Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury. While law and order in Bengal is at a nadir under Mamata Banerjee, the state is seeing competitive appeasement between the opposition parties. Earlier, TMC had stopped Saraswati Puja in schools. Bengali Hindus continue to bear the brunt of Mamata Banerjee’s communal politics," the tweet stated.He was booked under Sections 153A (promoting communal enmity) and 505 (public mischief) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). .During the hearing, Malviya's counsel told the Bench that the ingredients required to constitute the two offences are absent, as there has been no communal tension after the said tweet.To buttress his case, the counsel cited news reports stating that the West Bengal government has discontinued the Saraswati Pooja in schools.He, therefore, termed the FIR to be a 'politically motivated' and 'malicious.'On the other hand, the counsel representing the State argued that a strong prima facie case is made out from the FIR itself. "Media reports cannot be the basis of any serious expression of thoughts," the government counsel added, while seeking some time to respond to the contentions.The Bench will now take up the matter for hearing after summer break.