Supreme Court chides BJP UP spokesperson Prashant Umrao for spreading misinformation, but grants him protection from arrest

Umrao has been booked in multiple FIRs filed across Tamil Nadu for spreading rumours and false information through his Twitter account regarding alleged attacks on Bihari migrant workers in the state.

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THE Supreme Court on Thursday expressed displeasure at Bharatiya Janata Party Uttar Pradesh spokesperson and advocate Prashant Umrao, for spreading rumours and false information through his Twitter account regarding alleged attacks on Bihari migrant workers in Tamil Nadu.

A division Bench comprising Justices B.R. Gavai and Pankaj Mithal observed that Umrao, as a lawyer, should have been more careful with what he stated on Twitter. The court asked him to tender an apology for his tweets by Monday.

The court, however, protected Umrao from arrest in multiple first information reports (FIRs) filed against him at various police stations in Tamil Nadu. It also modified the anticipatory bail condition which required him to report before a police station every day for a period of 15 days. The court, instead, directed that Umrao would appear before the police station on Monday at 10:30 a.m. and thereafter as and when required.

On March 21, a single-judge Bench of the Madras High Court granted anticipatory bail to Umrao in an FIR registered at the Thoothukudi Central police station. The high court made the bail subject to Umrao filing an undertaking affidavit not to tweet or forward any message to promote enmity between different groups on the grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence and language, among other things, and so on. In addition, it also directed him to report before the police station daily at 10:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m., for a period of 15 days, and as and when required for interrogation thereafter.

Aggrieved with the high court's bail conditions, Umrao approached the Supreme Court. Senior advocate Siddharth Luthra, for Umrao, argued that he had only tweeted news that had been shared by many media houses already. Luthra added that as soon as Umrao found the news to be inaccurate, he deleted the tweet in question. Yet, multiple FIRs against him followed, Luthra added.

Senior advocate Mukul Rohtagi, for the Tamil Nadu government, submitted that such tweets are not expected from a member of the Bar. He also argued that there was nothing wrong with the conditions imposed by the high court.

At this juncture, Justice Gavai queried what investigation the police would be doing for five hours each day for 15 days. Rohtagi, on the other hand, claimed that Umrao has not appeared at the police station even once.

Justice Gavai stated that Umrao would have to appear before the police at least once, and directed him to do so.

The Thoothukudi Central police had registered a case against Umrao for spreading wrong information, under Sections 153 (wantonly giving provocation, with intent to cause riot), 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence), 504 (intentional insult to provoke breach of the peace) and 505 (statements conducing to public mischief) of the Indian Penal Code on March 4 this year.

NDTV reported that Umrao had posted on Twitter that "12 migrants from Bihar were hung to death in Tamil Nadu for speaking in Hindi" while sharing an image of Bihar deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav with Tamil Nadu chief minister M.K. Stalin. Umrao has since deleted the tweet, but it was widely viewed and shared while online.

Umrao has a track record of spreading communal and hateful misinformation through his Twitter account, as documented by Alt News in 2018.

Earlier, the Delhi High Court on March 7 had granted transit anticipatory bail to Umrao till March 20.