Patna, Nov 3 The Patna High Court on Tuesday quashed an order passed by a lower court which had taken cognisance of the complaint against a leading publishing house by a Bihar-based follower of celebrated Yoga teacher Baba Ramdev.
A single judge bench of Justice Alok Kumar Sinha set aside a couple of orders passed by a chief judicial magistrate at Hajipur, the headquarters of Vaishali district, in October, 2017.
The lower court had issued summons to the petitioner, Juggernaut Books Pvt Ltd, on a complaint filed by Amit Kumar, a resident of Hajipur, who had alleged that the book ‘Godman to Tycoon: The Untold Story of Swami Ramdev’ contained passages that hurt his religious feelings and also defamed his guru.
The publisher, thereafter, challenged the aforementioned order invoking Section 482 of the Criminal Procedure Code (inherent powers of High Court).
The High Court quashed the impugned orders observing “the prosecution against the petitioner suffers from fundamental legal infirmities”.
“Allowing the prosecution to continue against the petitioner would amount to continuing a criminal proceeding despite the absence of mandatory statutory conditions for taking cognisance,” the court added.
(PTI News)
