In a minor reprieve for Shirin Dalvi, former editor of Urdu newspaper Awadhnama, the Bombay High Court directed the police not to file a charge sheet in the FIRs registered against her after the newspaper republished controversial caricatures from French weekly Charlie Hebdo.
A division bench of Justices V M Kanade and Nutan Sardessai admitted the petition filed by Dalvi, challenging the complaints lodged against her at various places in the state for allegedly spreading malicious content and hurting religious sentiments.
The court, while directing the police not to file charge sheet in the cases against Dalvi pending final hearing and disposal of her petition, said, “These days people are hyper-sensitive about such matters.”
The now-closed newspaper, Awadhnama, had carried the cover page of French weekly Charlie Hebdo, on its front page in its January 16, 2015 edition. After a series of complaints, the paper had issued an apology on January 17.
A series of FIRs were registered against Dalvi in Mumbai, Thane and Malegaon. She was arrested and later released on bail.
Charlie Hebdo was the target of a terror attack in Paris last year in which 12 people were killed.
