'Taslima Nasreen's tweet was not malicious', says Patna HC while quashing the case

The writer's tweet was neither malicious nor was it made to intentionally disturb any public order, Justice Arun Kumar said in his order.

Patna, Oct 13: The case against controversial Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen over a tweet, which allegedly hurt religious sentiments, was quashed by the Patna High Court.

The Patna High Court quashed a six-year-old order of a lower court which took cognizance of a complaint against Nasreen.

The writer's tweet was neither malicious nor was it made to intentionally disturb any public order, Justice Arun Kumar said in his order yesterday on a petition filed by Nasreen challenging the decision of the chief judicial magistrate (CJM) court at Bettiah in West Champaran district.

The CJM court, without conducting a mandatory inquiry under Section 202 of CrPC, took cognisance in the matter, the high court said while quashing the lower court's order. The tweet, which was allegedly made with regard to Muslim women in 2011, was published in a Hindi vernacular.

Murad Ali, an advocate at Bettiah civil court, had filed a complaint in the CJM court against Nasreen on October 24, 2011. The CJM court took cognisance of the matter on May 24, 2012 and later issued a non-bailable warrant (NBW) against the writer.

The author, who is living in India in a self-imposed exile, had challenged the CJM's decision through her lawyer Amit Srivastava in the Patna high court which had stayed proceedings and execution of NBW on April 15, 2013.

Srivastava said that Murad Ali, the complainant at Bettiah lower court, did not appear in the high court for six hearings including yesterday when the HC passed the order. Nasreen had fled Bangladesh in the early 1990s after right-wing Muslim outfits issued death threats to her.

PTI