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By:

Quaid Najmi

4 January 2025 at 3:26:24 pm

YouTuber challenges FIR, LoC in HC

Mumbai : The Bombay High Court issued notice to the state government on a petition filed by UK-based medico and YouTuber, Dr. Sangram Patil, seeking to quash a Mumbai Police FIR and revoking a Look Out Circular in a criminal case lodged against him, on Thursday.   Justice Ashwin D. Bhobe, who heard the matter with preliminary submissions from both sides, sought a response from the state government and posted the matter for Feb. 4.   Maharashtra Advocate-General Milind Sathe informed the court...

YouTuber challenges FIR, LoC in HC

Mumbai : The Bombay High Court issued notice to the state government on a petition filed by UK-based medico and YouTuber, Dr. Sangram Patil, seeking to quash a Mumbai Police FIR and revoking a Look Out Circular in a criminal case lodged against him, on Thursday.   Justice Ashwin D. Bhobe, who heard the matter with preliminary submissions from both sides, sought a response from the state government and posted the matter for Feb. 4.   Maharashtra Advocate-General Milind Sathe informed the court that the state would file its reply within a week in the matter.   Indian-origin Dr. Patil, hailing from Jalgaon, is facing a criminal case here for posting allegedly objectionable content involving Bharatiya Janata Party leaders on social media.   After his posts on a FB page, ‘Shehar Vikas Aghadi’, a Mumbai BJP media cell functionary lodged a criminal complaint following which the NM Joshi Marg Police registered a FIR (Dec. 18, 2025) and subsequently issued a LoC against Dr. Patil, restricting his travels.   The complainant Nikhil Bhamre filed the complaint in December 2025, contending that Dr. Patil on Dec. 14 posted offensive content intended to spread ‘disinformation and falsehoods’ about the BJP and its leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi.   Among others, the police invoked BNSS Sec. 353(2) that attracts a 3-year jail term for publishing or circulating statements or rumours through electronic media with intent to promote enmity or hatred between communities.   Based on the FIR, Dr. Patil was detained and questioned for 15 hours when he arrived with his wife from London at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (Jan. 10), and again prevented from returning to Manchester, UK on Jan. 19 in view of the ongoing investigations.   On Wednesday (Jan. 21) Dr. Patil recorded his statement before the Mumbai Police and now he has moved the high court. Besides seeking quashing of the FIR and the LoC, he has sought removal of his name from the database imposing restrictions on his international travels.   Through his Senior Advocate Sudeep Pasbola, the medico has sought interim relief in the form of a stay on further probe by Crime Branch-III and coercive action, restraint on filing any charge-sheet during the pendency of the petition and permission to go back to the UK.   Pasbola submitted to the court that Dr. Patil had voluntarily travelled from the UK to India and was unaware of the FIR when he landed here. Sathe argued that Patil had appeared in connection with other posts and was not fully cooperating with the investigators.

Resignation to contain unrest within ruling party

Updated: Feb 10, 2025

Manipur

Mumbai: Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh’s resignation on Sunday is the BJP’s way to contain the unrest within the state party unit, sources within the Manipur state government and the BJP have said.


A major chunk of the BJP MLAs in Manipur had gone against CM Singh ever since the violence broke out in the state about two years back and the state administration failed to contain it. The MLAs, though not publicly, had been demanding replacement of N Biren Singh for a long time. To add to this the Manipur State Congress state President Keisham Meghachandra Singh threatened with a no confidence motion against the Biren Singh government. He said that the Congress shall move the motion in the assembly session starting Monday.


Though, the Congress didn’t have the requisite numbers in the state assembly to be able to move such a motion, the central BJP leadership sensed a danger of disgruntled party MLAs supporting the opposition in moving the motion. The central party leadership then summoned Biren Singh to Delhi on Saturday evening. He returned to Imphal after a two-hour long meeting with BJP national president J P Nadda and union home minister Amit Shah and tendered his resignation to Governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla on Sunday evening.


Source within the party also said that the decision to make Singh resign might also be linked to the leaked audio tape alleged linking him to the ethnic violence in the state. On Monday, (Feb 3), the Supreme Court had sought a sealed-cover report from the Central Forensic Sciences Laboratory regarding the leaked audio tape and had posted the next hearing in the case to March 24.


However, a private non-profit named Truth Labs Forensic Services had said that said that 93 per cent of the voice in the audio tapes match with the voice of CM N Biren Singh’s public speeches. Hence, the party might have decided to ask Singh to resign in order to avoid further embarrassment, the sources said.

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