'Deliberate attempt to outrage religious feelings': Allahabad HC refuses to quash case over posts on PM Modi, RSS

The Allahabad High Court has refused to quash a criminal case against two men who are accused of posting anti-national and objectionable content against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh RSS. Considering the submissions, the high court at the outset said that people on social media sometimes cross the line by uploading posts without understanding the consequence of their acts.

The Allahabad High Court has refused to quash a criminal case against two men who are accused of posting anti-national and objectionable content against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS). Dismissing the petition filed by Jubair Ansari and Izahar Alam of Sonbhadra, Justice Saurabh Srivastava said that the allegations against the accused prima facie stand corroborated as the trial court has taken cognizance of the offences invoked by the police. The high court observed that the RSS is an organisation that has been rendering its services to the various sections of society with its allied groups for last 100 years, while Prime Minister Modi has been elected by the majority of citizens. The posts initiated by the applicants over Facebook amounted to a ''deliberate and malicious attempt'' to outrage religious feelings, the court said. The accused are facing charges under various provisions of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) for allegedly promoting enmity in the society and attempting to provoke breach of peace with their statements. It was alleged that the Facebook account of accused persons shows that almost every post was ''anti-national'', against Prime Minster Modi and the RSS. The counsel representing the accused argued that the FIR was a result of a malicious intent to harass them. However, the state counsel said the case should be allowed to proceed before the trial court. Considering the submissions, the high court at the outset said that people on social media sometimes cross the line by uploading posts without understanding the consequence of their acts. ''One way, if we consider life has become very easy and easily accessible where people can get together and express their views on certain issues. It is one way very good where the views of the people are known to everyone. But sometimes the social media is misused where people post such comments which hurts the feelings of others and triggers disharmony on a large scale,'' the judge said. In its order dated April 29, the court said that while social media can be used to express views and opinions about any issues, the rights should not be misused or overused. It went on to flag instances when social media was misused in the past. ''In 2012, one of the early cases of misuse of social media came to the government's attention, when morphed pictures and videos of earthquake victims began to go viral on the social media. ''The miscreants were morphing these images to show that these women were Muslim victims of civil riots in Assam and Burma. This was done to provoke further riots by vested interest and it did bring a reaction,'' the court said. It said that another drawback of the social media is that adult videos or porn videos are also easily accessible by minors. Accessing internet has become so easy these days that it is difficult to draw the line of restriction, it added. The court further said that section 196(1)(a) of the BNS is attracted to a Facebook post when the content deliberately promotes enmity, hatred, or ill-will between different groups based on religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, caste or community. ''Under this section, a post can lead to a cognizable offence (meaning police can register an FIR and arrest without a warrant), if it disrupts public harmony,'' the court said. Considering the material on record, the court said it cannot be said that no offence was made out against the accused.