The Calcutta High Court on Wednesday acquitted a person who was arrested on the charge of criticising a state minister on social media.
A single-judge bench of Justice Amrita Sinha directed that Ershad Sultan be released immediately.
The matter related to a meeting of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee with members of her cabinet, bureaucrats, police officers and heads of the different municipalities in the state on June 28.
The administration arranged for the live streaming of the entire meeting. During the meeting, the arrested person made a comment accusing West Bengal minister Arup Roy and some local Trinamool Congress leaders of encouraging illegal construction in Howrah by illegally filling up water bodies.
The police registered a FIR against Sultan the same day and he was arrested on June 30. His family members approached the High Court against the arrest and the matter came up for hearing on Wednesday.
During the hearing, Justice Sinha raised some questions on the arrest. Her first question was whether the police could arrest anyone if the latter complains or expresses a grievance against anyone. She also questioned whether the arrest was prompted by a complaint from the minister.
Finally she observed that the police has unnecessarily intervened in the matter on the basis of a complaint by a third person.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
Featured Video Of The Day
Mohali Building Collapse: 2 Dead, Many Feared Trapped
Kolkata Man Gets Divorce As "Imposition Of Wife's Friend" Is Deemed Cruelty Approach Lower Court For Bail: Calcutta High Court To RG Kar Ex Principal "Shouldn't Exhaust Himself...": High Court On Petition By BJP's Suvendu Adhikari "Intention To Dupe UPSC": Ex-IAS Trainee Puja Khedkar Denied Pre-Arrest Bail Send Sheikh Hasina Back To Dhaka, Bangladesh Writes To India Software Engineer Loses Rs 11.8 Crore To "Digital Arrest" Scam In Bengaluru Swiss Government Adopts More EU Sanctions On Russia And Belarus Young Mammoth's Over 50,000-Year-Old Remains Found Nearly Intact In Siberia Finally, The Headline Bihar Has Been Waiting For Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world.