The Bombay High Court on Monday granted an interim protection from arrest to Urdu daily editor Shirin Dalvi for reproducing in her publication a controversial cartoon of Prophet Mohammed originally published by French satirical weekly magazine Charlie Hebdo.
Hearing a petition filed by Dalvi, Editor of Urdu newspaper Awadhnama whose publication was shut down following the publication of the controversial cartoon, a division Bench of the High Court comprising Justices Ranjit More and Anuja Prabhudesai directed the Maharashtra Government against taking any coercive action against her till February 11.
Forty-six-year-old Dalvi, against whom as many as five FIRs have been filed in three different districts of Maharashtra, had sought the quashing of complaints against her and clubbing of all the FIRs. She had also told the court that her life was in danger as she had received death threats from various quarters.
Following the re-printing of the controversial cartoon in the January 17 issue of her publication, Dalvi was arrested by the Mumbra police on January 28 and booked under section 295 A of IPC for outraging religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion and religious beliefs.
Subsequently, five FIRs were filed against her in the districts of Mumbai, Thane and Nashik. While Dalvi had secured a regular bail after her arrest in the first case filed in Mumbra in neightbouring Thane district, she obtained anticipatory bail in the one filed at NM Joshi Marg police station in Mumbai.
A day after Awadhnama reprinted the controversial cartoons of Prophet Mohammed, the newspaper tendered apology to its readers in the January 18 issue of the news paper. However, she was forced to shut down her newspaper on January 19.
In her petition filed in the high court, Dalvi stated that she was “hounded” by a few people forcing her to go into hiding. So much so that she had to change her style of dressing, switch off her mobile phones and leave her residence out of fear for her life.
Senior lawyer Mihir Desai, who represented Dalvi, informed the Bombay High Court that she was the only woman editor of an Urdu newspaper in the country. “Given that there are as many as five FIRs against her, my client cannot stay with her children at home. Nor her children can pursue their education, “Desai told the court.
Desai urged the court to transfer all the cases to one police station and to restrain the State from taking any coercive action against her. The HC subsequently adjourned the hearing February 11 and granted interim protection from arrest to the petitioner till then.