Calcutta High Court sets aside 'no clue' report in Facebook casteist abuse case

The Calcutta High Court has set aside a police closure report in a case involving alleged casteist abuse on Facebook. Justice Uday Kumar held that acceptance of a "Nil/No clue" report could not be sustained where the investigation failed to adequately pursue available digital evidence.

The court further ruled that the existence of other cases filed by the complainant could not constitute grounds to discredit a separate and distinct complaint alleging casteist insults through social media. The complainant, belonging to a Scheduled Caste community, had lodged a written complaint on 21 September 2022 alleging that accused persons belonging to the general caste hurled casteist expletives targeting his caste identity, religion and family on Facebook, with supporting digital screenshots.

The police had submitted a closure report on 20 January 2023 citing lack of user particulars from Facebook despite seeking assistance from the Cyber Police Station, Kolkata. The petitioner subsequently filed a protest petition challenging the rejection of his grievance.