“You can’t defame women like this”: Supreme Court slams UP Professor for his objectionable Facebook post against Union Minister Smriti Irani

The Supreme Court recently reprimanded a petitioner in strong words over his plea of ignorance about the alleged objectionable remarks on his Facebook page against Union Minister Smriti Irani and refused to entertain his petition seeking protection from arrest in a FIR registered by the UP Police.
A Division Bench of Justices Sanjat Kishan Kaul and Hemant Gupta said,
“You can’t defame women like this. You cannot use social media just to defame. What kind of language is being used? There is a language to criticise. There is a language to say jokes. You can’t say anything you like and then want to get away.”
Following the Bench censured the petitioner in strong words; the petitioner chose to withdraw the petition.
The petition was dismissed as withdrawn. The bench granted the petitioner two weeks’ time to surrender and seek regular bail.
The matter had come before the Supreme Court on July 9, 2021. The petitioner, Shaharyar Ali who is head of History department in a Degree College at Firozabad district of UP, had approached the Apex court after Allahabad High Court rejected his anticipatory bail application on May 25, 2021.
A FIR was registered against Ali by Ramgarh Police of Firozabad District in March, 2021 for an allegedly obscene Facebook post against the Union women and child development minister. He was booked for offences under Section 505 (2) of the Indian Penal Code for allegedly promoting enmity between communities, apart from Section 67A of the Information Technology Act for publishing obscene material.
Before the Allahabad High Court in May, the petitioner had claimed that his Facebook account was hacked and that the objectionable content got posted without his knowledge. He also urged that on account of animosity he was falsely implicated in the crime by a Zila Mantri of the Bharatiya Janata Party, on the basis of whose complaint the FIR was registered.
However, the High Court dismissed Ali’s petition for anticipatory bail.
“There is no material to show that the applicant's account was, in fact, hacked. Rather, the applicant has posted his apology on that account, which shows that the account is prima facie still being operated by him. It is also apparent that this post was shared by co-accused in the crime, one Huma Naqvi, and the contents of the post are indeed such which may in fact, promote or in all likelihood of promoting ill-will or hatred between different communities.,” the High Court had observed.