Nagpur: The Supreme Court on Monday, August 25, granted protection from arrest to noted psephologist Sanjay Kumar in connection with two FIRs filed by the Election Commission of India, accusing him of spreading misinformation about Maharashtra’s electoral rolls on social media.

A bench headed by Chief Justice B R Gavai and Justice N V Anjaria issued notice while directing that “no coercive action” be taken against Kumar in the interim. The court took note of submissions made by senior advocate Vivek Tankha and lawyer Sumeer Sodhi that the FIRs were filed despite Kumar tendering a public apology.

Kumar, who is co-director of Lokniti at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS), had approached the apex court seeking quashing of the FIRs. He was booked under multiple sections of the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita (BNS), including Section 175 (false statement in connection with an election), 353(1)(B) (statements conducing to public mischief), 212 (providing false information to a public servant), and 340.

One of the FIRs was registered on August 20 at the complaint of Ramtek Tehsildar Ramesh Kolpe, who alleged that Kumar’s posts misled the public regarding the state’s electoral rolls.

Earlier, Kumar issued an apology on social media platform X, stating:

“I sincerely apologize for the tweets posted regarding Maharashtra elections. Error occurred while comparing data of 2024 LS and 2024 AS. The data in row was misread by our Data team. The tweet has since been removed. I had no intention of dispersing any form of misinformation.”