Nainital, March 20 The Uttarakhand High Court on Friday rejected the plea of Kotdwar gym operator Deepak Kumar, who gained prominence as "Mohammad Deepak," seeking police protection and initiating action against police officers for alleged biased conduct.
The bench of Justice Rakesh Thapliyal also directed all parties not to make any comments related to this incident on social media to prevent public outrage.
In the petition filed in the high court, Deepak also sought a departmental inquiry against the police officers for their alleged biased conduct in providing him and his family with police security.
The state government informed the high court that Deepak had concealed crucial facts, including that he had been provided police protection until March 13, and that two FIRs had been filed based on his complaint.
The court was also told that Deepak was not facing any threat.
The high court also took note of these FIRs.
Rejecting the application for police protection, the court stated that an accused cannot seek police protection, as it would set a bad precedent and put unnecessary pressure on the investigating agency.
The court also stated that the police are competent to ensure the petitioner's safety.
The incident relates to Bajrang Dal workers in Kotdwar objecting to a Muslim shopkeeper, Vakil Ahmed, naming his shop as 'Baba'. Deepak confronted them and supported Ahmed.
In a video that went viral on social media, Deepak questioned the demand to change the name and said that the shop is more than 30 years old. When the crowd asked his identity, he said, "My name is Mohammad Deepak."
The Kotdwar police had registered three separate cases in the matter. The first case was filed against 30-40 unidentified people, who were involved in the protest against the shopkeeper, for allegedly disturbing public peace, obstructing government work, and manhandling police officers, under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
Deepak moved the Uttarakhand High Court to quash an FIR registered against him for rioting, causing hurt and intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace.
In his petition, Deepak primarily requested the quashing of the FIR lodged against him. He also requested that an FIR be registered against those responsible for the alleged hate speech, police protection for himself and his family, and a departmental inquiry be conducted against police officers for alleged partisan conduct.
The court strongly objected to these applications of the petitioner, calling them "illogical".