Bombay High Court grants relief to AAP's Preeti Sharma Menon in SC/ST Atrocities case

The Bombay High Court on Wednesday granted relief to Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) executive member and Mumbai president Preeti Sharma Menon in a case against her under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act [Preeti Sharma Menon & Anr. v. State of Maharashtra & Ors.] .A division bench of Justices Sunil Shukre and MM Sathaye directed the the Mumbai police to stay investigation in the case for four weeks till next date of hearing. .The Andheri police station registered a first information report (FIR) against Menon on March 16, 2023 on a complaint by AAP member member Sanjay Kamble. According to Kamble, on February 23, when AAP Chief and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal was visiting Mumbai, Kamble raised an issue of mismanagement within the party. At that time, another member Manu Pillai allegedly made certain anti-caste remarks. Kamble complained to Menon and asked her to take action against Pillai. On March 10, during another meeting, Menon allegedly told Kamble that "his mentality was low". Kamble was also allegedly not allowed to leave office and incident was accompanied by sloganeering.Kamble subsequently filed a complaint and an FIR was registered against Menon and others under Sections 143 (unlawful assembly),147 (rioting), 500 (defamation), 504 (intentional insult) and 506 (threat) of the Indian Penal Code along with sections 3(1)(r) and 3(1)(s) of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes Prevention of Atrocities Act 1989..Menon moved the High Court seeking quashing of FIR.She alleged that Kamble was found indulging in anti-party activity and his membership had been terminated from the party. Menon had apprehended that Kamble might create trouble and had filed a complaint against him on March 11, 2023. On Kamble’s FIR, Menon stated it seemed to be registered under influence of rival political parties.During the hearing, Senior Advocate Mihir Desai appearing for Menon pointed out that there was a 6-day delay in filing of the FIR. He also added that the FIR was vague and failed to specify the slurs used against the complainant. He also submitted that despite the offences being punishable for less than 7 years, no notice had been issued under Section 41A of the Code of Criminal Procedure.After hearing Desai briefly, the bench granted interim relief and issued notice in the plea.It directed the Mumbai police to file a reply in 4 weeks.