Read Time: 06 minutes

Granting bail to a man accused of making obscene remarks about Lord Ram and Lord Krishna on his Facebook account, Allahabad High Court observed, “The right to freedom of speech and expression cannot be used against religious sentiments of others and it is punishable under Indian Laws."

Bench of Justice Shekhar Yadav granted bail to the accused considering the fact that he has already been in jail for the last ten months and trial is not likely to end in near future. Therefore, as per Apex Court’s guidelines in such matters, the accused’s bail plea was granted on certain conditions accompanied with a warning that he’ll not attempt such a crime again in the future.

In the order, exhaustively discussing the seriousness of the crime that had been committed in the present matter court said, “ Each citizen is free to be even atheist, not pray or profess antitheism, it doesn’t matter but it causes trouble when one posts obscene images of religious figures belonging to other’s religions and makes vulgar comments on those publicly, which the constitution does not accept.”

Court added that Lord Ram gave a welfare message to the world by telling what was the limit of family dignity and how one can lead a life of honor by giving equal place to family and society.

Therefore, court observed, “For this reason, Shri Ram, Shri Krishna, Ramayana, Geeta and its authors Maharishi Valmiki and Maharishi Ved Vyas, who are the heritage of India's culture, need to be given national honor by bringing a law in the Indian Parliament.”

Court said that the obscene remarks made by the accused/applicant about the great men of India, Lord Shri Ram and Lord Shri Krishna, is an injury to the faith of the majority of the people of this country and it disturbs the peace and harmony in the society and innocent people will have to suffer the consequences.

“If the court is lenient with such people, then their morale will increase and their conduct will spoil the harmony in the country,” Court stressed.

Therefore, noting that after collecting all the evidence, the investigating officer has sent the charge sheet against the applicant to the court, court observed that the applicant created the website on the basis of his SIM and put it in the mobile of his relative and made it public by making obscene remarks which comes under the category of crime.

Court concluded, “In the present case, obscene remarks have been broadcast by the applicant/accused on Lord Shri Ram and Lord Shri Krishna and their followers.”

However, following Apex Court’s guidelines in Dataram Singh v. State of Uttar Pradesh and Others (2018) that bail is the right of the accused and jail is an exception, court granted the bail

Case Title: Akash Jatav @ Surya Prakash Vs State of Uttar Pradesh