‘Are you James Bond?’: SC slams Rajasthan Police, nixes extortion FIR

THe sublime margaret court on fri came shoot down intemperately on the Rajasthan Police for acting like “James Bond” and adopting a “shoot first, ask questions later” approach, while quashing an extortion and fraud case.A bench of justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta described the FIR as “as bogus an FIR as it can get” and said it conveyed a disturbing message that “a common man has no remedy to lodge an FIR while there are privileged people who can register FIRs at the drop of a hat”.The strong remarks came during an exchange with additional solicitor general SD Sanjay, who appeared for the state of Rajasthan.“What kind of an FIR is this?” the bench asked at the outset. “You would throw out a common citizen who tries to register such an FIR with the police. This is as bogus an FIR as it can get. We are shocked at the manner in which this FIR was filed,” it added.When Sanjay submitted that there were complaints and many victims had not come forward due to fear, and argued that quashing the FIR would shut the door on the probe, the bench disagreed sharply.“You are mistaken. In Rajasthan, a common man has all the remedies to go to the police to register an FIR and if they do not, they go to courts. But we cannot allow such an FIR to stand even for a day,” the court said.Drawing an analogy, the bench asked: “Can you register a murder FIR against a person just because someone tells you that ‘such and such person has committed so many murders in all parts of the country’? Will you register an FIR? That is exactly how things have happened in this case.”“Your client cannot be a privileged client that your police roll out a red carpet for them…the FIR is quashed” the bench said.Issuing stern comments during the hearing, the court asked the state: “Are you James Bond? Shoot first, ask questions later?”Senior advocate Siddharth Aggarwal appeared for petitioner Ashish Dave, former regional head of Zee Rajasthan channel.The case stems from an FIR registered in September last year at Ashok Nagar police station in Jaipur on a complaint by Zee Media Corporation Limited through its representative Sanju Raju. The complaint alleged that Dave misused his position to demand money from vendors and external parties, threatening negative media coverage if they did not comply. It accused him of extortion, fraud and causing reputational and financial damage to the company. Multiple provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita were invoked.Dave, however, challenged the FIR as false and vague, arguing that the dispute was essentially civil in nature between him and the company and did not disclose any criminal offence.The Rajasthan high court had earlier refused to quash the FIR, observing that the allegations were serious and warranted investigation. While noting that the media is the fourth pillar of democracy, the high court held that journalists or media officials could not misuse their authority and allowed the probe to continue. It directed that Dave be given notice before any coercive action and that he cooperate with the investigation.Dave then moved the Supreme Court. On December 1, the apex court issued notice to the Rajasthan police and the company and extended interim protection granted by the high court, directing that no coercive action be taken against Dave provided he cooperated with the probe. No arrests were made in the case, and Dave had appeared for questioning.On Friday, the Supreme Court took a stricter view of the very registration of the FIR. Rejecting the state’s plea that quashing would affect many alleged victims and stall the investigation, the bench said the FIR itself was legally unsustainable.“This FIR must be quashed,” said the court, adding that allowing such a complaint to remain on record would send the wrong message about access to justice.