DUSU

Shahnawaz Hussain was challenging a local court judgement dated July 12, 2018, which dismissed his revision petition on July 7, 2018. "In the present case, there seems to be a complete reluctance on the part of the police to even register an FIR. In the absence of the FIR, at best, the police could have, as correctly observed by the special judge (trial court), conducted only what is a preliminary inquiry. The very fact that it was only a reply that was filed by the police before the metropolitan magistrate, sufficiently establishes that it was not a final report that was submitted by the police," Justice Asha Menon said in the order passed on Wednesday.

After the controversy erupted over the upmarket restaurant Silly Souls Cafe and Bar, Justice Mini Pushkarna said the court perused various documents on record issued by the government of Goa and the office of Commissioner of Excise, which have been addressed to one Anthony Dgama, and not to Irani or her family members. The court observed that the Congress leaders conspired to malign Smriti Irani's reputation. The court also issued summons to the Congress leaders and directed them to remove the tweets related to the allegations levelled against Irani and her daughter.

"The right to free speech and expression has been enshrined in our Constitution as a Fundamental Right. The right to free expression has therefore been stoutly protected by the courts. No doubt, the right to free speech is not unbridled nor is it recognised as absolute. It is subject to reasonable restrictions, which includes the right to reputation, as has been recognised in several judgments," she ruled.

Bagga's counsel, before Metropolitan Magistrate Neetika Kapoor, sought security at Bagga's house citing an incident in which two mobile phones belonging to Bagga and his father were forcefully seized by 'unknown people'. He said that they will move an application to get back the phones, at which the court told him to file proper applications.