Ex-bureaucrat Ashish Joshi moves court for FIR copy after 9-hour police questioning
Joshi was questioned for nearly nine hours on September 2 over his social media posts; his lawyer said the FIR had not been supplied to him despite repeated requests.
Joshi stated in his application that despite repeated requests during the interrogation for a copy of the FIR, it was not provided. (File photo, enhanced with AI)
Days after former civil servant Ashish Joshi was questioned for nearly nine hours by the Delhi Police Special Cell over his social media posts, he moved an application before a magistrate court on Monday seeking a copy of the FIR based on which he was detained and interrogated.
Chief Judicial Magistrate Mridul Gupta of Patiala House Courts is due to take up the application on Tuesday.
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According to Joshi’s lawyer, Aadil Singh Boparai, the FIR copy had not yet been supplied as of 2 pm on Monday.
Police had said that Joshi was questioned regarding the case that was registered by the Special Cell’s Counter Intelligence (CI) unit under Section 192 of the BNS, which deals with provocation with the intent, or knowledge, that it is likely to cause a riot.
According to Joshi’s application before the court, he was returning from his morning walk from the vicinity of Nehru Park at 8.45 am on September 2 when two persons, who said they were Special Cell officials, had “accosted” him and “compelled him to accompany them for…interrogation/investigation with regard to an alleged tweet…”
This was done, however, without furnishing him with a copy of the FIR, according to Joshi.
Joshi stated in his application that despite repeated requests during the interrogation for a copy of the FIR, it was not provided. Subsequently, he made a representation to the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Special Cell, on September 3, seeking a copy.
“The continued and unexplained denial of a copy of the FIR… despite specific and repeated requests… is contrary to the settled position of law and has caused serious prejudice, uncertainty and hardship to (Joshi) who remains wholly unaware of the precise nature of the allegations, if any, against him,” Joshi has stated.
The Indian Express reported that Joshi claimed that he had been summoned in connection with his August 26 post on X on the West Bengal elections, but that a substantial part of the questioning was about an earlier post in which he had referred to a purported disagreement between the Union Home Minister and Home Secretary.
Joshi stated in his application that despite repeated requests during the interrogation for a copy of the FIR, it was not provided. (File photo, enhanced with AI) 
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