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Court said that offences that promote hatred among classes of people have to be put down with a heavy hand.
The Allahabad High Court recently refused to allow a plea to quash a case filed against a man accused of posting objectionable comments on his Facebook account regarding Lord Shiva.
The bench of Justice J.J. Munir observed that the words employed in the concerned post were made with the deliberate and malicious intention of outraging the religious feelings of the Hindu community.
Court also rejected the argument raised by the counsel for the accused namely Asif that he had not authored the said Facebook post, he had merely forwarded it.
Court said, "Even if the said comments have been endorsed by the applicant by posting them on his Facebook, it matters not whether he is the author or the exponent of the comments. 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".
Court underscored that offences of these kinds, cannot be permitted to flourish in society by adopting a soft-pedalling approach at the cost of widespread damage to the community.
Accordingly, court dismissed Asif's plea filed under Section 482 CrPC challenging the proceedings in the case.
Asif had been booked under Sections 153-A and 295-A of the Indian Penal Code and Section 66 of the Information Technology Act, 2000. The allegations against him were that with the said Facebook post where objectionable language had been used, he had hurt and insulted the religious sentiments of the Hindu Community.
Also, allegedly there had been further comments fomenting communal hatred by the other co-accused, in the comments section of Asif's Facebook account.
Case Title: Asif v. State of UP
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