The Supreme Court on Thursday, April 6, directed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson of Uttar Pradesh Prashant Umrao to apologise for spreading misinformation through one of his posts on Twitter against attacks on Bihari migrant labourers in Tamil Nadu.
Umrao had, on February 23 this year, had claimed that 15 migrant workers from Bihar were hanged in Tamil Nadu for speaking Hindi, of which 12 had died. Taking a strict note of the misinformation spread by Umrao, the SC Bench comprising Justices BR Gavai and Pankaj Mithal asserted Umarao must have been more responsible especially when is a lawyer.
The Bench asked what was Umarao’s standing in the Bar Association, to which the court was informed Patel has been a member of the Bar for seven years and is currently serving as a standing counsel for Goa. "He should be more responsible," Justice Gavai said, asking the embattled lawyer to tender an apology before the next date.
The top court also modified his pre-arrest condition. Earlier he was asked to report before the Tamil Nadu police for 15 days for questioning but now he would have to appear at 10 am on April 10 and thereafter as required by the investigating officer.
In his petition, Prashant said that he had been booked in multiple FIRs by the Tamil Nadu Police for the same tweet and argued that he had deleted the post as soon as he realised it was fake. The Supreme Court responded by saying that the anticipatory bail that was granted to him would apply to any FIR registered in Tamil Nadu.
The police said that the FIR lodged against Prashant was under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) including provocation with the intent to cause riot, promoting enmity and hatred, and provoking breach of peace, among others. The Delhi High Court had granted anticipatory bail to Prashant til March 20 so that he could approach a Chennai court regarding the FIR filed against him by the Tamil Nadu police.