New Delhi: The Supreme Court is likely to hear on Thursday a plea by two minor children of a Congress leader, who was arrested in Uttar Pradesh for allegedly questioning the strategy of the state government in containing the outbreak of COVID-19 at a press briefing, which allegedly did not have the requisite permission.
The matter is listed for hearing through video-conferencing before a bench headed by Chief Justice S.A. Bobde.
The children, aged two and seven, moved the apex court through their mother claimed that their father had served food and other essential commodities to migrant workers, who were stranded due to the nationwide lockdown imposed from March 25, near the Delhi-Moradabad highway. The children in their plea insisted that Amroha Police had lodged an FIR on April 11 against their father Sachin Choudhary.
And, this case was registered for holding a press conference which cited the loopholes in the measures taken by the state. Later, he was sent to judicial custody.
The plea filed through advocate Smarhar Singh said that the father of the petitioners is affiliated to the Congress party, the chief opponent of the ruling party. And, his arrest was made due to political vengeance.
The plea claimed that the petitoners’ father has been in jail since April 11, and claimed if the allegations levelled in the FIR are presumed to be true, no offence under sections 124-A (sedition) and 153-A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race etc and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony) is made out. Instead, Choudhary had exercised his fundamental right and questioned the action of the government in the press conference.
