Ex CM Manik Sarkar's plea to quash FIR over 'provocative' speech dismissed by Tripura High Court

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The Tripura High Court on Tuesday dismissed a petition filed by former Chief Minister Manik Sarkar seeking to quash an FIR registered against him over an alleged provocative speech at a political programme in Agartala on August 10.

A division bench of Justice T Amarnath Goud and Justice Biswajit Palit held that the allegations in the FIR disclosed prima facie ingredients of cognisable offences warranting further investigation. The court said disputed questions concerning the translation and contextual meaning of the Bengali expression attributed to Sarkar could not be resolved at the stage of writ proceedings.

The FIR was registered at West Agartala police station on August 16 under Sections 192, 353(1)(b) and 61(1) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023, following a complaint by Prabir Roy.

According to the complaint, Sarkar allegedly said during a political programme that the movement against the state and central governments would take a more serious form if an 11-point charter of demands was not accepted. The complainant alleged that a Bengali expression attributed to the former chief minister meant that the country and the state would have to take the path of a militant or aggressive movement, and claimed that it could incite violence and disturb public order.

Sarkar, however, argued that his words had been mistranslated and taken out of context. His counsel submitted that the speech concerned a nationwide protest called by central trade unions, farmers’ organisations and other civil society groups against government policies.

The petitioner maintained that he had supported the movement’s demands and urged participants to co-operate peacefully with the police during their arrest. He also alleged that the FIR was politically motivated and that the words attributed to him did not disclose the ingredients of the offences invoked.

Opposing the plea, the state submitted that the speech had been delivered before a large gathering amid a tense law-and-order situation. According to the state, more than 5,000 participants had breached two security barricades while marching towards the office of the Sub-Divisional Magistrate in Sadar before the police halted their progress.

The state clarified that the breach of the barricades had occurred before Sarkar’s speech and was not attributed to his subsequent address. However, it argued that the surrounding circumstances and the likely impact of the words on the gathering required investigation.

The bench observed that the power to quash an FIR at the initial stage should be exercised sparingly. It said the investigating agency needed to examine the speech in its entirety, including its context, the audience’s reaction and available audio-visual recordings. The court also noted that the absence of an actual riot did not, by itself, rule out the applicability of Section 192 of the BNS.

The court dismissed the petition and directed Sarkar to refrain from making provocative or hate speeches in future, urging him instead to promote peace, harmony and brotherhood.

Considering his age and his tenure as chief minister, the bench said Sarkar could approach the lower court with an appropriate bail application, which would be considered subject to conditions.

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