The Mumbai Police has claimed that the visit of British doctor Sangram Patil to India on a tourist visa and his activities on social media were part of a “larger, organised effort” to post defamatory and inflammatory material about Prime Minister Narendra Modi while living outside the country, Bar and Bench reported on Thursday.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Detection) Raj Tilak Roushan, in an affidavit filed in the Bombay High Court, described this as a matter of serious concern, Live Law reported.
The affidavit was in response to a criminal writ petition filed by Patil, who is also a content creator, seeking the quashing of a first information report and a lookout circular filed against him over “objectionable” posts about Bharatiya Janata Party leaders.
The lookout circular is used by law enforcement authorities to check whether a person entering or leaving the country is wanted by the police.
The FIR against the Indian-origin doctor was based on a complaint by BJP leader Nikhil Bhamre, who in December, alleged Patil had deliberately made allegedly defamatory and misleading posts about the Hindutva party and its leaders. The online posts could create feelings of enmity and hatred between groups, Bhamre claimed.
Patil’s YouTube channel has over four lakh subscribers and 5.6 crore views, and his Facebook page has more than one lakh followers. His posts on the video platform and social media cover several topics, including political commentary. Some posts were critical of the Modi government.
On January 10, Patil was detained at the Mumbai airport in connection with the allegedly derogatory online posts about the BJP. He was later allowed to leave after being given a notice to join the investigation.
The doctor, in his petition in the court challenging the FIR and the lookout circular, has said that he was being targeted for political reasons and that the case was a misuse of criminal law to suppress dissenting political views, Bar and Bench reported.
Describing the FIR and the circular as illegal, Patil has sought their quashing, a stay on further investigation, protection from coercive action and permission to return to the United Kingdom.
The police, in their affidavit, defended the investigation, alleging that Patil had not fully cooperated and also avoided submitting devices and credentials for forensic analysis, according to the legal news portal.
The deputy commissioner of police (detection) said that the matter warranted an investigation to look into why a foreign citizen, despite being a qualified medical professional in India on a tourist visa, was engaged in posting allegedly scandalous and obscene content online about Modi from abroad.
“At this stage, the possibility that such acts form part of a larger, organised effort in order to malign constitutional authority and disturb the public order, cannot be ruled out,” Bar and Bench quoted the affidavit as having said.
The authorities were trying to ascertain the “true purpose” of Patil’s visit to India, the document said, adding that the investigation was also looking at whether he violated the conditions of his tourist visa, Live Law reported.
The affidavit added: “It is necessary to investigate whether the accused, while being a foreign national, had any local assistance, collaborators, or handlers in India who facilitated or amplified the dissemination of such content on social media, particularly content that directly attacks the character and dignity of the prime minister”.
The police required Patil’s presence within the country as it would be difficult to track him once he goes back to the United Kingdom, it said.
The deputy commissioner of police (detection) also claimed that the doctor continued to post derogatory and inflammatory content from his account even after coming to India.
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