Proceedings stayed against Sandeep Pandey

ALLAHABAD: A division bench of the Allahabad High Court has stayed the criminal proceeding pending in the court of chief metropolitan magistrate (CMM) Kanpur Nagar, against Magsaysay award winner Sandeep Pandey.
The bench, consisting of Justice Ratnakar Das and Justice KK Misra, passed this order on a writ petition of Sandeep Pandey. The court, while fixing November 11 next in the matter stayed the criminal complaint proceeding pending against the petitioner till that date.
The allegation against the petitioner was that he had given a statement which was anti-social, against the nation and also against the prime minister of India, Atal Behari Vajpayee.
Earlier, the CMM, on a criminal complaint filed by one Hari Dixit, a worker of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) on August 31, 2002 had issued summons to Pandey, fixing October 3, 2002 for his appearance by saying that prima facie the statement of Pandey was against the country and prime minister.
The summons was issued under Section 124-A, 153-A, 153-B, 295-A and Section 298 IPC. It was aruged that before issuing summons, no prior permission was taken from either of the governments. The argument of the petitioner’s counsel was that the petitioner had allegedly committed crime against the government therefore, before taking cognizance of the matter prior permission of the state and central government was necessary.