• Source:JND
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The Supreme Court on Monday paused police action against Sanjay Kumar, the psephologist who deleted the posts related to the Maharashtra election and apologised for sharing the "misread" data. The counsel appearing for Kumar stated that the psephologist is a respected personality and such harsh steps should not have been taken, especially after his immediate public apology. While the court pointed out that it would not have entertained the petition in usual cases, it emphasised that the police cases against the psephologist must be paused.  

While hearing the case, the bench comprising CJI BR Gavai and Justice NV Anjaria acknowledged that the post was removed from the public platforms, and the psephologist also apologised for the mistake. "You withdrew also," CJI Gavai pointed out, reported Live Law. While the court granted a stay on the FIRs, it stressed that usually such pleas are not entertained.

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Earlier on August 17, Sanjay Kumar had pointed out significant increases and decreases in the voters of certain constituencies of Maharashtra. He apologised and deleted the post on August 19, citing a mistake by his team in reading the data. However, the Maharashtra police filed FIRs against the psephologist at Nashik and Nagpur for "spreading misinformation" regarding the polls.

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Sanjay Kumar, in his plea emphasised that the cases against him were unjustified, as a forgery case cannot be lodged for a post giving wrong information. "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," Kumar argued in his plea, reported Live Law. He further pointed out that the post had no criminal intention, and he issued an apology after detecting the error.