Agartala, Oct 13 : The Tripura High Court on Tuesday dismissed a petition filed by former chief minister Manik Sarkar seeking to quash an FIR registered against him over an alleged provocative speech at a political programme in Agartala on August 10.
A division bench of Justice T Amarnath Goud and Justice Biswajit Palit held that the allegations in the FIR disclosed prima facie ingredients of cognisable offences warranting further investigation.
The court said disputed questions concerning the translation and contextual meaning of the Bengali expression attributed to Sarkar could not be conclusively determined at the stage of writ proceedings.
The FIR was registered at West Agartala police station on August 16 under Sections 192, 353(1)(b) and 61(1) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023, following a complaint by Prabir Roy.
According to the complaint, Sarkar allegedly said that the movement against the state and central governments would take a more serious form if an 11-point charter of demands was not accepted. The complainant claimed that the expression indicated a shift towards a militant or aggressive movement that could incite violence and disturb public order.
Sarkar argued that his words had been mistranslated and taken out of context. His counsel submitted that the speech concerned a nationwide protest called by central trade unions, farmers’ organisations and other civil society groups against government policies.
The former chief minister maintained that he had supported the protesters’ demands and urged participants to cooperate peacefully with police during their arrest. He also alleged that the FIR was politically motivated and that the words attributed to him did not constitute the offences invoked.
Opposing the petition, the state government submitted that the speech was delivered before a large gathering amid a tense law-and-order situation. It said more than 5,000 participants had breached two security barricades while marching towards the Sub-Divisional Magistrate’s office in Sadar before police halted them.
The state clarified that the barricade breach occurred before Sarkar’s speech and was not attributed to his subsequent address. However, it argued that the circumstances surrounding the speech and its potential impact required investigation.
The bench observed that the power to quash an FIR at the initial stage should be exercised sparingly. It said investigators should examine the speech in its entirety, its context, the audience’s reaction and available audio-visual recordings. The court also noted that the absence of an actual riot did not, by itself, rule out the applicability of Section 192 of the BNS.
While dismissing the petition, the court advised Sarkar to refrain from provocative or hate speeches and promote peace, harmony and brotherhood.
Considering his age and tenure as chief minister, the bench said he could approach the lower court with an appropriate bail application, which would be considered subject to conditions.
