Agartala, Oct 13 The Tripura High Court on Tuesday dismissed former chief minister and CPI(M) leader Manik Sarkar’s plea seeking to quash an FIR against him over alleged inflammatory remarks made at a rally in August.
Advocate Raju Datta, who is representing the state government in the case, told reporters that the FIR was lodged at West Agartala Police Station on August 16, based on a complaint filed by Prabir Roy.
“The complainant alleged that Sarkar’s remarks at a public programme on August 10 that the country and the state were moving on a path of militant agitation could undermine the country’s sovereignty and provoke discord among communities,” he said.
Advocate Datta told reporters that following the registration of the case, police initiated an investigation. During the process, Sarkar approached the high court, seeking to quash the FIR.
“In his petition, Sarkar contended that the FIR was baseless and that the statements attributed to him did not disclose any cognisable offence,” he said.
Senior advocate Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya appeared on behalf of Sarkar while advocate Datta represented the state government.
“The division bench dismissed Sarkar’s plea holding that the FIR was not liable to be quashed at this stage,” the government counsel said.
(PTI News)
