Why the haste to file FIR against Modi: Jaitley

May 01, 2014 15:27

BJP leader Arun Jaitley on Thursday questioned the Election Commission's order for registration of an FIR against Narendra Modi and said it acted in "haste and anger" and the interpretation given by it may fall foul of Constitutional provisions.

Jaitley said the poll body has missed out the larger vision as the meaning of criminal law cannot be stretched out and definition of polling area be defined as Modi was not inside the polling station while giving a media byte after voting like other leaders elsewhere in the country.

"When Constitutional institutions react in haste and even anger, they miss out the larger vision. Criminal law provisions are to be strictly construed. Their meaning can't be stretched out.

"A public meeting is a public meeting; the media byte is not a public meeting. If media is to be prosecuted for displaying comments of politicians on a voting day such a provision will fall foul of constitutional guarantee of free speech since it is not covered by the prescribed restrictions under Article 19 (2)," Jaitley said in an article on his blog.

Citing examples of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Nobel laureate Amartya Sen and other leaders who spoke to media after casting their vote, the BJP leader said, "I am only illustrating that an interpretation being given by the EC may fall foul."

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