'Provocative' song case: SC issues notice to Gujarat govt, stays proceedings against Congress's Imran Pratapgarhi

NEW DELHI: Supreme Court on Tuesday issued notice to Gujarat government and stayed proceedings against Congress MP Imran Pratapgarhi for posting an edited video with an allegedly provocative song.

This comes after the Gujarat HC refused to quash an FIR against Pratapgarhi in the same case. The Congress leader had alleged that the FIR filed by Gujarat police was driven by malicious intent, however, Justice Sandeep Bhatt had dismissed the plea.

Pratapgarhi, on January 3, was charged for sharing an edited video featuring an allegedly provocative song during a mass marriage event in Jamnagar city.

He had uploaded a 46-second video on X, showing him walking amidst a shower of flower petals with a background song, which the FIR described as provocative, harmful to national unity, and offensive to religious sentiments. In his plea to dismiss the FIR, the Congress leader had argued that the poem in the video promotes "a message of love and non-violence".

"The FIR is based on frivolous and unsubstantiated grounds. A bare perusal of the FIR reveals that certain words were being taken out of the context," he said in his plea.