DHCBA Seeks Withdrawal of UP Police FIR Against Lawyer Over Ayush Malik Case Post
The Delhi High Court Bar Association (DHCBA) has urged the Director General of Police (DGP) of Uttar Pradesh to cancel or close an FIR filed by Shamli police against Delhi lawyer Syed Kaif Hasan for his X post regarding a case recently heard by the Allahabad High Court.
Hasan had reportedly claimed that the Allahabad High Court chastised the Uttar Pradesh Police for illegally keeping Shamli resident Ayush Malik confined at his house against his will. Malik’s family had reportedly detained him following his decision to leave Hinduism and convert to Islam.
The Uttar Pradesh Police registered an FIR against Hasan and others after denying that it had been chastised by the High Court.
Terming Hasan’s X post as “reportage” of court proceedings, the DHCBA in a letter dated September 29 to DGP Rajeev Krishna said that Hasan “made it expressly clear in his post that this was just an update of the proceedings and that the written order was, at that stage, awaited.”
The bar association said it “would not like to jump the gun and seek to pre-empt any lawful investigation that may be initiated” but that “publicly messaging Advocates and threatening them in this manner would have a deterrent effect on the rightful coverage of court proceedings”.
The letter comes after the DHCBA adopted a resolution on September 21 criticising the “highhanded and uncalled-for action” of the UP police against Hasan, who is a member of the DHCBA.
Shamli Police have filed an FIR under Section 353(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) against Hasan and five others.
Shamli Police’s cyber cell described kaifsyedhasan as a “fabricated Twitter account” created by “a certain unknown person” in a recent note to X Corp.
The legal notice issued to Hasan under Section 74(1) of the IT Act cited Section 66D of the IT Act, which pertains to cheating by impersonation. It asked for details of the IP address associated with the account, the email and phone number linked to the account, and information on the device used to create it.
However, in a statement uploaded on X in response to the police notice, Hasan claimed that his account was based on “oral observations of the Hon’ble High Court” which were never recorded in the order.
