[Tripura Violence] Supreme Court restrains Tripura Police from taking action against activist for tweets

The Supreme Court has restrained the Tripura Police from taking any further action against activist-journalist Samiullah Shabbir Khan for his tweets on the violence that took place in the State in October last year. .A Division Bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and AS Bopanna restrained the police from taking any action and issued notice on the plea. The Court recorded the submission made by advocate Shahrukh Alam representing the petitioner that "writing about violence will certainly not attract any of the offences.".The Court was hearing a plea moved by the Association for Protection of Civil Rights against the invocation of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) against more than 100 people who took to social media to comment on the Tripura violence, which was triggered by the vandalisation of mosques and shops belonging to the Muslim community.The Tripura Police had sent a notice under Section 91 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) to Twitter, regarding Khan's tweets about the violence. In the notice, the police asked Twitter to remove his tweet and sought details of the IP address and phone number for the purpose of investigation in the criminal cases registered against him..In November last year, the Supreme Court had granted protection from arrest to two advocates and one journalist who were booked under the UAPA in connection with their social media posts and work related to the communal violence in Tripura.The Bench headed by Chief Justice of India NV Ramana and comprising Justices DY Chandrachud and Surya Kant had issued notice to the State of Tripura and the Central government on the petition which, besides seeking quashing of the case against the petitioners, challenged the vires of Section 2(1)(o) which defines ‘unlawful activity,’ as well as Sections 13 and 43D(5) of the UAPA..The Tripura Police had booked the petitioners including journalist Shyam Meera Singh and certain other activists and lawyers for offences punishable under the UAPA.Thereafter, the accused moved the Supreme Court seeking to quash the first information reports (FIRs) registered against them. According to Singh, the BJP-led Tripura Government had slapped UAPA charges against him for his tweet which said, "Tripura is burning."The plea contended that proceedings arising from the FIRs were, "violative of the freedom of speech & expression of the petitioners protected under article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution of India; malafide; abuse of process of law; and as the FIR prima facie discloses no cognizable offences."