Magistrate court order to not remand ‘Nakkeeran’ Gopal upheld

Observing that on a prima facie consideration of the allegations made in the complaint, this court is of the considered view that a lot of intellectual debate is required in this case in order to come to a conclusion whether a publication by itself can attract the provisions of Section 124 of IPC, Justice N Venkatesh, said “While such a fundamental question as to whether an offence under Section 124 of IPC looms large, the police should not have resorted to arrest on October 9, 2018, the very next day after registering an FIR.”

“In this case, the publication is said to have been made from April to September 2018. The police are unable to demonstrate as to how these publications are preventing the Tamil Nadu Governor from exercising his lawful powers and duties and in what manner it has overawed the Governor,” the Judge added, while noting, “except the ipse dixit statement in the complaint, no other material was available with the police in order to seek remand of Gopal. Therefore, the XIII Magistrate court, Egmore, was right in rejecting the remand on the ground of insufficient materials.” The State had contended in its appeal that the Magistrate did not apply his mind to the enough materials that were produced. Also, on citing the submissions made by N Ram, Chairman of Hindu Publications, a third person in the case, the State had claimed that the Magistrate was swayed by the extraneous considerations while considering the remand.

However, Justice Anand Venkatesh on holding that this court did not find anything wrong with the procedure adopted by the Magistrate and the submissions made by Ram, said, “The Magistrate has, in fact, perfectly applied his mind and he has given scope for the police to collect further materials and for that purpose has got an undertaking from Gopal to appear for interrogation as and when required. The Magistrate has not closed his mind and the openness in his approach is very clear from the fact that he has given liberty to the investigating officer to again approach the court after collecting sufficient materials.”

The Judge in his order also said, “This court wants to record its appreciation to the XIII Metropolitan Magistrate because the proceedings were conducted amid a charged atmosphere but the Magistrate had maintained equipoise and the same is reflected in the order passed by the Magistrate.”