Uttarakhand HC stays arrest of ex-MLA Suresh Rathore in defamation case

Nainital, Jan 6 (PTI) The Uttarakhand High Court on Tuesday granted interim protection to former MLA Suresh Rathore in a defamation case.

The order was delivered on Rathore's petition challenging multiple FIRs registered against him in several state districts for allegedly circulating defamatory content on social media.

In his petition, Rathore had sought quashing of the FIR registered against him on December 24 in Haridwar district under sections 248(B) (making false accusations with intent to cause harm) and 336(4) (forgery with intent to harm reputation) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.

It was alleged that Rathore and another accused individual deliberately spread false and misleading content on social media with the intent to tarnish the image of Dushyant Kumar Gautam, the international president of Shiromani Guru Ravidas Shiv Mahapeeth.

The content hurt the sentiments of the Ravidas community and created a hostile environment, it alleged.

Rathore denied all the allegations and claimed that he was being framed in a political vendetta.

The politician also claimed that co-accused Urmila is not his legally married wife and that the viral content was created using artificial intelligence without his involvement.

An FIR each with similar allegations have been registered against Rathore in Haridwar and Dehradun districts.

Advocate Vaibhav Chauhan, appearing for the petitioner in court, argued that no offence is made out under sections 248(B) and 336(4) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita as the petitioner neither initiated any false criminal proceedings nor committed any act of forgery.

Considering the arguments, a single-judge bench of Justice Ashish Naithani granted 'interim protection' to Rathore and stayed any coercive action against him in the FIR. PTI DPT VN VN