New Delhi, July 1: The Supreme Court on Tuesday assured journalist and political psychologist Dr Ashis Nandy protection against arrest or detention from the Gujarat Police.

In a dramatic unfolding of events in the apex court, a Bench led by Justice Altamas Kabir restrained the Narendra Modi Government from taking any action against the 71-year-old political scholar for penning an article “critically analysing the outcome of the 2007 polls” in the state.

Nandy had also moved the Delhi High Court for quashing an FIR registered at Satellite Police Station in Ahmedabad (rural) district under sections 153 A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc) and 153 B (imputations, assertions prejudicial to national integration) of the IPC. An action, according to Nandy, permitted by an “unhappy and annoyed” Modi Government.

Holding that “nothing in the article is objectionable”, the Bench directed the Gujarat Government to stop short of arresting Nandy with regard to proceedings arising from the FIR registered in relation to the article.

“There are worse things happening in this country,” the court noted in its criticism of the Modi Government's “harassment” of the journalist in the name of his article.

The apex court’s stinging remarks were prompted by a Gujarat Police summons issued hours after the Supreme Court Bench heard the matter on Tuesday. Counsel for Nandy, Gaurang Kanth, rushed to the courtroom to apprise the Bench of the new development.

Staying the summons on an interim basis, an anguished Bench observed that Nandy was harassed because he was a “soft target”.

“Why is that the people in the state of Mahatma Gandhi and the Gujarat Government do not have enough tolerance to permit Nandy and other journalists to express their independent opinion,” asked the court, disposing of Nandy's petition. “The court wondered as to why this type of FIR is not lodged against any politicians in India,” Kanth told The Indian Express.