Freedom 251: Makers get a clean chit from Allahabad High Court, allowed to resume operations

Creating an interesting twist in the Freedom 251 smartphone case, the Allahabad High Court (HC) ruled that no coercive steps should be taken against Ringing Bells Pvt. Ltd until the next hearing. The HC claimed the matter as ‘seemed premature’.

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Freedom 251

The ruling came as a response to the FIR filed against Mohit Goel and Ashok Chadha, the makers of Freedom 251, by BJP MLA Kirit Somaiya for allegedly duping customers. The FIR was filed under the section 420 of IPC. It also stated the company misused the tri-color and has not registered with the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS).

In its first hearing, the HC ordered the UP Government to file a report by 5 April. The report filed by the police safeguarded Freedom 251 makers, saying that the money collected during the pre-booking of the phone is duly being refunded as the company has changed its pricing strategy as ‘cash-on-delivery’. This triggered the Court to offer relief to Mohit Goel and Ashok Chadha and allowed them to move the application for release of their passports.

According to the division bench, comprising of Justice B. K. Narayan and Justice R. N. Mishra, indicating the offence of section 420 of IPC may not be valid for this instance. The bench said that the company should be given a chance to fulfill their commitment.

In response to the new ruling, Abhishek Vikram, counsel for Ringing Bells said,“We are very happy with today’s (Friday’s) order. We shall now press for the quashing of the FIR as there is no merit in it and extraneous factors have gone into its lodging. This FIR is a strategy to derail the timely launch of the flagship product of the company.”

“The company has already sold 28,000 units of its other products and has developed innovative strategies to meet its cost for delivering the smartphone for Rs. 251 to its customers. The company’s aim is to reduce the digital divide between urban and rural India by selling the smartphone for Rs. 251,” Vikram added.