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Synopsis

The Supreme Court on Friday granted protection from arrest to one Rakib Uddin Ahmed accused of posting a poem on his Facebook account wherein he used obscene words aiming at Lord Ram and Sita.

Allegedly, Ahmed made a Facebook account conceal his real identity, with the name Neelabh Sourav, to post the poem. The poem was posted by the accused on his Facebook account on January 22, 2024

A bench of Justices MM Sundresh and SVN Bhatti's attention was drawn to apology rendered by Ahmed.

While issuing notice in the SLP filed by Ahmed, the ordered that petitioner shall not be arrested subject to the condition that he shall co-operate with the investigation.

The instant SLP was filed against the Gauhati High Court's order rejecting pre-arrest bail to the accused. 

In the impugned order, Justice Robin Phukan noted that "the applicant having concealed his real identity, took a different name and published the poem, and as such, it cannot be said that the said poem has not influenced any enmity and hatred between different groups on the ground of religion..".

High Court had further noted that Ahmed had been absconding since the date of occurrence to avoid arrest by police.

Case Title: RAKIB UDDIN AHMED @ NEELABH SOURAV vs. STATE OF ASSAM & ANR.