Rajasthan HC stays arrest of Aman Chopra

The Rajasthan High Court on Wednesday stayed the arrest of Noida-based journalist Aman Chopra who was booked by the state police over a TV debate on the demolition of a temple by civic authorities in Alwar district.

This comes on the back of a Supreme Court order staying proceedings in sedition cases. Chopra's lawyers had presented the SC order in the High Court.

On Tuesday, the court had stayed the arrest for a day.

Further hearing in the case, the high court’s Jodhpur bench ordered that Chopra cannot be arrested even if a fresh FIR is filed.

The court ordered that Chopra will have to appear for six hours for police investigation.

Chopra had already obtained a stay on his arrest from the court’s Jaipur bench in the cases registered against him in Bundi and Alwar districts, but faced arrest in connection with a similar FIR filed in Dungarpur.

A Rajasthan Police team had camped in Noida, neighbouring Delhi, in a bid to arrest the TV 18 journalist in connection with the third FIR.

Now, Justice Dinesh Mehta has stayed his arrest in connection with the complaint filed against him at Bichhiwada police station in Dungarpur district Krishna Raj Singhal, described as a Congress worker.

Special Public Prosecutor Vinit Jain argued before the court that the petitioner's apprehension over his arrest was misplaced and pleaded against the stay.

According to Chopra's counsel, the court said that it would decide the matter after seeing a recording of the programme.

Police said Chopra was booked under Sections 124-A (sedition), 295-A (acts intended to outrage religious feelings), 153-A (promoting enmity between different groups) of the Indian Penal Code, and the Information Technology Act.

The FIRs accused Chopra of giving false details suggesting that the demolition of a temple in Alwar district’s Rajgarh town was carried out by the Rajasthan government in retaliation for the demolitions in Delhi.

While Rajasthan is run by a Congress government, the Rajgarh municipality is controlled by the BJP. The two parties had hurled charges against each other after the demolitions.