3 weeks ago
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The Delhi High Court on April 22 asked the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to respond to a plea by human rights activist Harsh Mander and his NGO seeking quashing of an FIR lodged against them for alleged violation of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA).
The court issued notice to the CBI on the petition and asked the agency, which orally assured the court that it was not going to arrest Mr. Mander as of now, to file its status report before the next date of hearing on August 29.
During the hearing, senior advocate Nitya Ramakrishna, appearing for former IAS officer Mr. Mander and his NGO Centre for Equity Studies (CES), urged the court to grant an interim relief of no coercive action against the petitioners.
Advocate Anupam Sharma representing the CBI said no coercive action would be taken against the activist till the next date of hearing.
The CBI lodged the FIR in February this year against Mr. Mander and his Delhi-based NGO CES for alleged violation of various provisions of the FCRA after conducting a preliminary enquiry following a complaint by the Union Home Ministry.
The searches were conducted at two locations in Delhi, including Mr. Mander’s official and residential premises, according to a CBI statement issued in February.
The plea said the FIR was registered after a six-month-long preliminary enquiry without any cognisable offence on the part of the petitioner. The petition claimed that the FIR is vague and seems to have been filed “without any application of mind” to the ingredients of the penal provisions.
