Patna: The Patna High Court has quashed the FIR registered against Prashant Kishor in connection with the ‘Baat Bihar Ki’ political campaign, holding that the allegations of forgery, cheating and criminal conspiracy were not substantiated on the face of the complaint.
In a 51-page judgment, Justice Sandeep Kumar said continuation of the criminal proceedings would amount to an abuse of the process of law.
Court’s Findings
The court observed that the FIR did not contain any allegation that Kishor had created forged documents or dishonestly induced any person to deliver property.
It said the ingredients required to establish offences related to forgery and cheating were absent in the complaint. On that basis, the court held that the criminal case could not continue.
The judgment also noted that if the substantive offences fail, the charge under Section 120-B of the Indian Penal Code, relating to criminal conspiracy, cannot survive independently.
Background To The Dispute
The case dates back to the run-up to the 2020 Bihar Legislative Assembly election, when the ‘Baat Bihar Ki’ campaign emerged as a prominent political outreach programme associated with Kishor.
A complainant had alleged that material from another political initiative called ‘Bihar Ki Baat’ was copied and used in the campaign. The allegation included claims that campaign-related data, design work and concepts had been taken without authorisation.
The complaint further stated that a former associate, Osama Khurshid, had left with a laptop containing the material, and that the same content later appeared in the rival campaign.
Copyright Observation
Referring to legal precedents set by the Supreme Court of India, the High Court said copyright protection applies to the expression of an idea and not to an idea or theme in itself.
The court held that the dispute, as described in the complaint, related primarily to conceptual similarity and did not establish criminal liability under the sections invoked.
Case Closed
With the findings, the court set aside the entire criminal proceedings against Kishor in the matter.
The ruling comes as a legal relief for the political strategist, whose campaign had drawn public attention during the Bihar election cycle and subsequent political developments in the state.
