BJP MP Dharmapuri Arvind who posted morphed cartoon of KCR finally gets relief

Hyderabad: Telangana High Court Chief Justice Ujjal Bhuyan stayed all further proceedings in connection with the case registered against Dharmapuri Arvind, the BJP MP from Nizamabad.

Mr. Arvind was accused of portraying Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao in a bad light. He had posted a video of a morphed cartoon on his Facebook account, originally created by cartoonist Mrutyunjay, showing KCR holding a liquor bottle in his hands instead of a “Shank Nath” (conch).

The MP posted the video after the Telangana Excise department released a notification on 28 December 2021 granting permission for the sale of liquor till 1 a.m. on the intervening night of 31 December 2021 and 1 January 2023 and further permitting A4 licenses (retail shops) to stay open till midnight on 31 December 2021, on the eve of the new year.

After the video went viral on various social media platforms, Y. Satish Reddy, TRS party social media convenor, filed a complaint with the Banjara Hills police station, and an FIR was registered against the MP.

Rachna Reddy, senior counsel appeared for the petitioner, informed the court that the sections which were inserted in the FIR—sections 504, 505(2), 153A of the IPC, and 67 of the IT Act—are not relevant to the offense alleged in the complaint as the alleged video do not, in any way promote enmity between two groups. She further submitted that no abusive language was used in the Facebook post, no provocative speeches were made and there was no obscenity in the video. The senior counsel requested the court to quash the proceedings in the FIR.

The matter was adjourned to 21 April.