On Thursday, the Supreme Court set aside an order of a magisterial court in West Bengal that had directed the registration of an FIR against BJP National General Secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya and two others for offences including rape and criminal intimidation on a complaint by a woman activist. The bench comprising Justices M R Shah and Sanjiv Khanna ordered that the Chief Judicial Magistrate at Alipore will apply his “judicial mind” and may direct the state police to conduct an enquiry on the complaint before lodging an FIR.
The top court refrained from commenting on the allegations made by the woman activist and instead focused on the legality of the magisterial court’s order. The court stated that the order was passed without any application of mind and without any basis or material on record. The court also stated that there was no prima facie evidence to support the allegations made by the woman activist.
The allegations against Kailash Vijayvargiya and the two others relate to an incident that allegedly occurred in 2016 when the woman activist was working on a project in Indore. The woman activist alleged that she was sexually assaulted by the accused and was threatened with dire consequences if she spoke about the incident. The woman activist also alleged that she was kept under illegal detention for several days.
The allegations were first made in 2020, and a complaint was filed in a magisterial court in West Bengal. The court had directed the registration of an FIR against the accused based on the complaint. The accused had then approached the Supreme Court challenging the order of the magisterial court.
The Supreme Court’s decision to set aside the order for FIR against Kailash Vijayvargiya and the two others has been welcomed by the BJP. The party has maintained that the allegations were baseless and politically motivated. The BJP has also accused the Trinamool Congress government in West Bengal of using the state machinery to target opposition leaders.
The decision of the Supreme Court is likely to have a significant impact on similar cases where allegations of sexual assault and other serious offences are made against public figures. The court has made it clear that magisterial courts cannot pass orders for the registration of an FIR without any basis or material on record. The court has also emphasized the importance of a fair and impartial investigation in such cases.
