Supreme Court Agrees To Hear Appeal Filed By Vyapam Scam Whistleblower Against Order Of MP High Court

The Supreme Court today agreed to hear on Monday, a Special Leave Petition filed by Vyapam Scam whistleblower Dr. Anand Rai against the order of the High Court of Madhya Pradesh dated 4th April 2022. The SLP was mentioned before the Bench comprising of Chief Justice N. V. Ramana, Justice Krishna Murari and Justice Hima Kohli by Senior Advocate Vivek Tankha.

The Special Leave Petition filed by Dr. Rai has been filed against the order of the High Court of Madhya Pradesh by which his writ petition seeking quashing of FIR registered against him was dismissed. The petitioner in his SLP had argued that he had through a Facebook post shared screenshots of the mobile forward from the anonymous source which had the question paper and answer key of Samvida Shikshak Varg-III in the MP-TET exam, asking for CBI Investigation in the matter. After publishing the post on Facebook, an FIR was filed against him on the basis of a complaint by an Under Secretary claiming that he was defamed through the post.

The petitioner was served notice under section 91 of the Code of Criminal Procedure twice. He filed a writ petition before the High Court of Madhya Pradesh, which initially granted him protection from arrest but later dismissed the writ petition. This order of dismissal is challenged before the Supreme Court.

The SLP challenges the order of the High Court on the following grounds:

• The finding of the High Court that the FIR makes out the case of cognizable offence for which investigation is required in the matter is wrong.
• The finding of the Court that the petitioner has not cooperated with the notice issued under Section 91 of the Code of Criminal Procedure and with the investigation is wrong.
• No notice was issued to the petitioner under section 41A of the Code of Criminal Procedure but it was issued to the co-accused.
• The finding that derogatory words are being used against the SC/ST community in the post is also wrong.
• The High Court failed in considering the malafide intent and haste in the conduct of the State Police to lodge the FIR at the behest of an individual who enjoys a public office of the state.

The Supreme Court has agreed to hear the matter on Monday upon mentioning by the Senior Advocate. The Apex Court today was also apprised of the fact that Dr. Anand Rai was arrested by the Police of Madhya Pradesh from Delhi yesterday night.