News Date: 10 Apr, 2023, 9:13 am IST
Prayagraj: The Allahabad High Court on Thursday refused to quash criminal proceedings against a man accused of posting objectionable remarks on Facebook about Lord Shiva [Asif v. State of Uttar Pradesh and Another].
The applicant, Asif was booked under Sections 153A and 295A of the Indian Penal Code and Section 66 of the Information Technology Act, 2000 for hurting and insulting the religious sentiments of the Hindu Community.
“Offences of the kind that have a tendency to promote hatred between classes of people or communities, have to be put down with a heavy hand. These offences cannot be permitted to flourish in society by adopting a soft-pedalling approach at the cost of widespread damage to the community,” single-judge Justice JJ Munir stated while refusing to quash the case.
The allegation against the applicant was that he has posted objectionable comments on his Facebook account, regarding Lord Shiva, thereby hurting religious sentiments of the Hindu Community.
There were further comments fomenting communal hatred by the other co-accused, in the comments section of the Facebook post.
Before the Court, the applicant argued that the alleged comments posted on the applicant’s Facebook were mere forwards by another person, one Anjali Singh and were not created by the accused but was only shared by him.
To this, the Court observed that if there is a comment which has the tendency to promote enmity between different groups, on the ground of religion posting/ sharing it on one’s Facebook would certainly constitute an offence.
“The words employed in the post clearly, are ones made with deliberate and malicious intention of outraging the religious feelings of a particular section of the community or a class of citizens of the country,” the Court observed.
Thus, if the said comments have only been endorsed by the applicant by posting them his Facebook account, it is irrelevant whether or not such person is the author or the exponent of the comments.
Therefore, while refusing to quash the case, the Court said,
“In the opinion of this Court there is absolutely no good ground to quash the proceedings in exercise of powers under Section 482 CrPC. This application is accordingly, dismissed.”
