When State power is alleged to have been unleashed to silence dissent, inquiry necessary before delayed registration of FIR: Calcutta HC

The Calcutta High Court recently reiterated that an inordinate delay in filing a First Information Report would necessitate a preliminary inquiry prior to arrest and investigation, in terms of the Supreme Court's Lalitha Kumari ruling (Mofijul Islam & Anr. v. State of West Bengal & Ors)..Justice Joymalya Bagchi was hearing a petition by relatives of the owners of an online news portal. The plea sought to quash allegedly false cases registered against the news portal owners. .The petitioners submitted that the registration of the criminal complaints were triggered by "non-comfortable" news reports published by the portal..Thereafter, the owners were arrested and remanded to a "protracted detention", without the veracity of the charges examined, the Court was told..The Court found that the FIR against the owners was filed after an inordinate delay. Further, the report did not record any reason for the delay..Citing the Supreme Court's ruling in Lalita Kumari v. State of UP that detailed guidelines for the registration of FIRs, Justice Bagchi noted that the FIR had been registered hastily. ."it appears the police authorities registered the FIR in post-haste and immediately arrested the accused persons ... No explanation is forthcoming regarding the hasty registration of a belated FIR without preliminary enquiry and the immediate arrest of the accused persons", he noted..Against the backdrop of the petitioners' allegations that the FIRs were in retaliation to discomfiting news reportage, the Court cautioned against hasty arrests and investigations.."Strict scrutiny of statutory safeguards relating to powers of arrest and investigation are all the more necessary when it is alleged that State power has been unleashed to silence the voice of dissent."Calcutta High Court.In light of the above, the Court admitted the petition and directed that a report be filed by the Director-General of Police, West Bengal on the following aspects:Why a preliminary inquiry was not undertaken,Whether circumstances disclosed in the FIR warranted the immediate arrest of the news portal owners,Whether the police officers were motivated by malice and/or ulterior motives, as the petitioners alleged..It is the fundamental right of a press reporter to publish news that may not be palatable to the Administration: Calcutta HC.Justice Bagchi ordered the filing of the Inquiry Report at the next date of hearing..It was clarified that investigations into the issue would continue under the supervision of an Officer nominated by the Director-General of Police. No police report could be filed without the leave of the Court, it was added..The matter has been listed to be taken up after three months..Senior Advocate Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya and Advocate Sabyasachi Chatterjee argued for the petitioners. The State was represented by Advocates Sayan Sinha, Raja Saha and B Chowdhury,.Read the Order here: