Mumbai: We are staying in a democratic secular country, where everybody should respect the religion and caste of another; and people should refrain from any knee-jerk reaction, the Nagpur Bombay High Court has said. The court further said that nowadays, maybe, people have become more sensitive about their religions than before.
The court quashed a 2017 FIR against two men who were booked under section 295A of the IPC (deliberate and malicious acts, that are intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious belief) for allegedly posting offensive messages on a WhatsApp group. They were also booked under the charges of intentional insult to breach public order and criminal intimidation.
The FIR was registered by one Shahbaz Siddiqui against Pramod Shendre (army soldier) and Subhash Waghe (medical practitioner) for allegedly sending offensive messages against the Muslim community on a WhatsApp group in August 2017. Siddiqui, who was also a member of the group, alleged that the duo were raising certain questions about Prophet Mohammad and also sent messages saying those Muslims who refuse to say 'Vande Mataram' should go to Pakistan.
“We are constrained to observe that nowadays people have become more sensitive about their religions, maybe, than before and everybody wants to impress as to how his religion/God is Supreme,” a bench of Justices Vibha Kankanwadi and Vrushali Joshi said on Wednesday.
The judges added, “We are staying in the democratic secular country, where everybody should respect the religion, caste, creed etc. of another. But at the same time, we would also say that if the person says that his religion is Supreme, then the other person may not immediately react. There are ways and means to react on such sensitive issues.”
The police should be able to prove that the alleged insult made by the accused was done with a deliberate and malicious intention of outraging the religious feelings of the said class of citizens. It noted that since the chats were end-to-end encrypted, the messages sent in the group could not have been seen by any third person who was not a member of the group.
It will have to be seen if the chat of a WhatsApp group had the effect of outraging the religious feelings or attempting to outrage religious feelings as contemplated under Section 295A of the IPC.
The judges further noted that the WA group comprised around 150-200 persons from both the Hindu and Muslim, communities and they discussed political issues.
“We can foresee that when the political issues are discussed, then it will definitely give heated exchange of thoughts and there would be fire-works,” the judges remarked.
The police have failed to identify the admin of the group and have not recorded his / her statement. Instead, the police have "adopted a pick and choose method" and recorded the statements of only four Muslim members of the group, HC said. Noting there is no prima facie evidence against the duo, the judges said it would be unjust to ask them to face the trial and quashed the FIR.
