Peaceful Public Protests Can't Attract Penal Action: Rajasthan High Court Allows Withdrawal Of Cases Against State Minister, Ex-MLA
The Rajasthan High Court has granted leave to the State Government permitting withdrawal of prosecution against a former MLA and State's Minister for School Education, opining that the public unrest, as alleged in the FIRs, had arisen out of the issues involving public interest and was not driven by any personal motive.
The bench of Justice Anoop Kumar Dhand took note of the fact that allegations related to peaceful protests being conducted over issues of water scarcity and demand for justice from the administration, which did not reflect any attempt to disrupt public order.
The Court further recorded that the protests were initiated in the interest of public at large, and being the elected representatives, the accused had a social and legal obligation to put forth and raise the concerns of their people.
It was the case of the State government, that a High Powered Committee of the Government had decided to withdraw the prosecution against the accused initiated over “petty nature of allegations”, and hence in accordance with the Supreme Court ruling in Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay vs. Union of India and Anr., the current application for filed seeking leave of the court to withdraw such prosecution against former/sitting MLAs.
The Court perused Section 321, CrPC that laid down procedure of withdrawal of prosecution, and observed that the power and discretion to withdraw the prosecution had to be utilised with utmost care and good faith to serve the larger public interest.
While underscoring the right to peaceful assembly and protest being fundamental in democracy, which could be restricted only when public order was disturbed, the Court highlighted, “The idea of public interest is a protean one. It is certainly not static but rather evolves over time and gains its content from the context in which it is used”.
In this light, and considering the overall facts and circumstances, it was held that there was no personal interest of the accused in initiating the public agitation and that they were simply raising reasonable demands in the interest of the public at large.
Accordingly, the Court granted the leave to withdraw the prosecution.
Title: State of Rajasthan v Bhawani Singh Rajawat & other connected petition
Citation: 2025 LiveLaw (Raj) 417