HC dismisses plea seeking interim protection from arrest in case of objectionable post against UP CM

The Allahabad High Court on Friday dismissed a petition seeking protection from arrest by a man accused of posting objectionable comments against Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Facebook.

A bench of justices Vipin Sinha and Ajit Singh dismissed the petition filed by the accused, Harshit Yadav, who had challenged FIR against him.

In the FIR, it was alleged that he had posted objectionable comments against Adityanath on February 12, when Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav was denied permission to attend a function in the Allahabad University campus.

The complainant, Akhilesh Singh of the Hindu Yuva Vahini, had alleged that Yadav made the objectionable post against the chief minister following which the FIR was registered under various sections of the IT Act at Varanasi's Ramnagar police station.

The additional government advocate opposed it on the ground that prima facie an offence was made out against the petitioner and therefore, the FIR can not be quashed.

The petitioner contented that the FIR must be quashed as the case was politically motivated.

The court, after hearing the parties concerned, dismissed the petition and declined to interfere in the matter.