The Supreme Court on Tuesday restrained the Gujarat government from arresting political analyst Ashis Nandy on a First Information Report registered against him for writing an article allegedly having communal overtones.

A vacation bench headed by Justice Altamas Kabir allowed the petition filed by Nandy seeking stay on his arrest and criminal proceedings initiated against him on the basis of an FIR registered by Ahmedabad police after his article appeared in a national daily.

Nandy had moved the apex court after the Delhi high court earlier refused to provide him an interim protection against arrest. The scholar has also sought quashing of the FIR lodged on a complaint filed by VK Saxena, president of an NGO, National Council for Civil Liberties.

In the FIR, it was alleged that Nandy's article related to assembly election results promoted communal disharmony between Hindus and Muslims. However, Nandy contended that the FIR was registered out of a mala fide intention and oblique motive. Nandy said that the FIR was aimed at penalising and depriving him of expressing his bona fide views.