Calcutta High Court Quashes Case Against Man Accused Of 'Mocking' CM Mamata Banerjee, Other Leaders On YouTube

Post By 24law
February 27, 2025

Pranav B Prem

In a significant ruling, the Calcutta High Court has quashed criminal proceedings against Sourav Paul, who was accused of making derogatory remarks and mocking West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and other political leaders on social media platform YouTube. Justice Ajay Kumar Gupta, while delivering the judgment , observed that the prosecution failed to provide sufficient materials to sustain the allegations against the petitioner.

Background of the Case

The case stemmed from a complaint lodged on June 30, 2022, by one Saif Salim, alleging that Sourav Paul had engaged in a criminal conspiracy to broadcast derogatory speeches against the Chief Minister and other leaders with the “sole intent to malign people and provoke breach of peace by endangering social harmony within the society.” Following the complaint, an FIR was registered against Paul under Sections 153, 500, 501, 509, 505, and 120B of the Indian Penal Code, 1860. He was taken into custody on July 6, 2022, but was released on bail the next day. Subsequently, the police filed a charge sheet on September 30, 2022, and the trial court took cognizance on October 12, 2022.

Court’s Observations

Justice Ajay Kumar Gupta, after examining the case records, noted serious lapses in the prosecution’s case. The court observed: “From the entire case records, this Court does not find the mobile was sent for expert opinion to ascertain that the same gadget was used for broadcasting of alleged derogatory video or speech with sole intent to malign people and provoke breach of peace by endangering social harmony within the society. Furthermore, no data of video clips or speech was retrieved from the YouTube channel to substantiate at least prima facie allegations made by the complainant.”

The court pointed out that the investigation relied heavily on the statements of two witnesses, Soheb Khan and Happy Khan, who merely claimed that “several derogatory speech or videos in the YouTube channel of Sourav Paul were noticed against the Hon’ble Chief Minister of State of West Bengal and other leaders.” However, they failed to specify any particular video, content, date, or time to substantiate the allegations. Additionally, the court highlighted that the investigating officer failed to retrieve any incriminating content from Paul’s mobile device or YouTube channel. It was further noted that despite repeated directions from the court, the police failed to submit any conclusive report regarding the retrieval of the alleged videos.

Legal Precedents and Conclusion

Referring to the landmark Supreme Court case of State of Haryana & Ors. vs. Bhajanlal & Ors. (AIR 1992 SC 604), the court reiterated that criminal proceedings must be quashed when there is a manifest abuse of the process of law. The judgment explicitly stated: “After careful scrutiny of the materials available in the case diary, this Court does not find any sufficient or cogent evidence or even prima facie case against the present petitioner. Mere filing of charge sheet without any material or shaky evidence would not suffice the purpose of continuing trial against the Petitioner. Even if, for the sake of argument, if the proceeding is continued, the possibility of conviction of petitioner appears bleak and remote and as such the continuation of the criminal proceedings would put the accused to great oppression and prejudice. Therefore, the continuation of the criminal proceedings would not be justifiable and to secure the ends of justice, the proceeding is deserved to be quashed.”

Accordingly, the High Court quashed the criminal proceedings against Sourav Paul, directing that all charges be dismissed.