Twitter case: High Court notice to Gujarat government over Teesta Setalvad's plea

AHMEDABAD: The Gujarat High Court today issued notices to the state government and a complainant on a plea by social activist Teesta Setalvad seeking quashing of an FIR in a case in which she is accused of putting objectionable pictures of Hindu deities on a popular social networking site.

Justice J B Pardiwala issued notices to government and Raju Patel, the complainant, over Setalvad's plea to quash the FIR against her registered at Gathlodia Police Station here.

The HC also asked the Investigating Officer in the case to remain present before it on September 30, the next date of hearing.

The FIR was filed in August last year on a complaint by Patel who said Setalvad had uploaded objectionable images of Hindu Gods and Goddesses on her account on Twitter, thus hurting the majority community's religious sentiments.

She was booked under Indian Penal Code (IPC) Sections 153(a) (promoting enmity between two religious groups) and section 205(a) (committing a deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings by insulting religion or religious beliefs) along with IT Act.

The 53-year-old activist had later apologised and removed the images from her Twitter account.