In the case of the anticipatory bail granted to a law college principal concerning an FIR registered over an alleged "Hinduphobic" book found in the library, the Supreme Court today, January 16, expressed surprise at the State of Madhya Pradesh. The top court was hearing a petition by Dr Inamur Rahman, the now-resigned principal of Government New Law College, Indore. The petition sought protection from arrest in the case.
The Supreme Court granted the principal interim protection from arrest on December 16, 2022, after the High Court of Madhya Pradesh refused to provide him with anticipatory bail in the case. When the matter was taken to the petitioner's counsel Advocate Aljo K Joseph informed the bench led by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud on Monday that he was granted anticipatory bail by the Madhya Pradesh High Court on December 22, 2022. The State's attorney asked the bench to note that the State intends to contest the judgement granting anticipatory bail as the bench was moving to decide the petition in light of the High Court order, as reported by LiveLaw.
The stand of the State took the bench by surprise. "State must do some more serious stuff. He is a College Principal. Why you are arresting him? A book is found in the library which is said to have some communal undertones. Therefore he is sought to be arrested? The book was purchased in 2014. And he is sought to be arrested? Are you serious?" CJI Chandrachud asked the State's counsel.
The State's counsel submitted that the students of the institution have complained that Dr Inamur Rahman has been teaching from the book. This complaint from the student has contradicted the defence of the petitioner that he never knew about the existence of the book, stated a report by LiveLaw.
"If you want to challenge the order, you do it. We will deal with it," CJI Chandrachud said. The FIR was lodged by an LLM student over a book written by Dr Farhat Khan (Accused 1) and published by Amar Law Publications (Accused 4) titled, Collective Violence And Criminal Justice System. The petitioner is arrayed as Accused 2.
The complainant contended that the book was based upon false and baseless facts and it was anti-national. The book also intended to harm the peace, integrity and religious cordiality of the country. The petitioner submitted that the book was published and purchased by the college in 2014 and he was a professor and not the principal at the time of publication and purchase, stated the LiveLaw report.
The former principal contended that the case has been lodged against him for political reasons and that he was not involved in the publication or marketing of the book. He stated that he was unnecessarily dragged into the case. It further states that the book was purchased not during the tenure of the petitioner, but way back in 2014, when he was merely a professor and not involved in the process of buying books for the college library. The petitioner resigned as the principal after protests by the ABVP, stated the LiveLaw report.
