SC Halts FIR Against Ex-CSDS Director Sanjay Kumar Over Voter Data Row

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday granted interim relief to psephologist and former CSDS director Sanjay Kumar by staying the FIRs lodged against him over a controversial social media post on voter turnout data during the 2024 Maharashtra Assembly elections.

A bench of Chief Justices B. R. Gavai and Justice N. V. Anjaria directed that no coercive action be taken against Kumar, noting that he had promptly deleted the post and issued a public apology after admitting to a data misreading error.

During the hearing, the counsel for the petitioner said, “This person has impeccable integrity. 30 years of conscientious service to the nation and to the world. He is highly respected. It was a mistake. He apologized.”

On August 17, Kumar posted on his X handle about the steep declines in voter turnout in constituencies. Following that, the officers reporting to the Election Commission of India registered two FIRs in Nagpur and Nashik against him. However, on August 19, Kumar issued an apology for his post and admitted that it was a mistake on his part.

"A tweet giving wrong information cannot form the basis of an FIR for offences such as Forgery. The allegations made therein are baseless, and the criminal sections invoked are demonstrably inapplicable to the facts and circumstances of the case," the counsel for the petitioner argued in court.

He contended that there was no criminal intent, as the post was a bona fide and inadvertent error, for which he issued a public apology with a clarification.  

Kumar was charged under the offences for u/s 175, 353 (1)(b), 212, 340(1) (2), 356 of the Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 after his tweet.

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