Allahabad HC Refuses To Quash Chargesheet Against Man Booked Over 'Disrespectful' FB Posts Against PM Modi, Indian Army

The Allahabad High Court recently refused to quash a chargesheet filed against a man facing an FIR for allegedly sharing disrespectful posts against Prime Minister Narendra Modi as well as the Indian army.

"Prima facie, given the totality of the context, the statements are divisive of the community and tend to promote insecurity in the minds of one community against another. These also tend to create fear or alarm amongst the public that may induce one Section of the public to commit offences against public tranquillity or the State,"  a bench of Justice JJ Munir observed as it refused to quash the chargesheet against the accused (Sahil Mehra).

Referring to one of the alleged statements made by the accused, relating to some dead bodies etc, the Court said that the same may have "some kind of bearing on the morale of the Armed Forces", however, it added that it "would require a more detailed probe". 

Essentially, the FIR was lodged against Accused in 2019 under Section 505 IPC and Section 66 of the IT Act over the allegations that he had been posting disrespectful words against the Indian Army on his Facebook account, which could have the effect of demoralizing the Army, besides addressing the Prime Minister in disrespectful words.

According to the informant, the applicant was fomenting enmity in the society as his posts had led to tension between two areas in the town.

After the investigation, the Police submitted a charge sheet under Section 505 IPC and Section 66 IT Act upon which the Magistrate took cognizance and summoned the applicant to stand his trial. Now seeking relief in the case, the applicant moved the HC seeking quashing of the Chargesheet.

At the outset, the Court perused the contents of the case diary, which included printouts of the screenshots relating to the offending Facebook posts and found that the alleged posts were indeed made and circulated with the intent to incite one class or community of persons to commit an offence against another class or community.

However, the Court did underscore that its observations were based on prima facie impression on a reading of the statement and the same were, in no way, a finding or expression of opinion on the merits of the matter, which, the Court said, must be tried under law.

"It is only prima facie that we are convinced that an offence not worth quashing the impugned charge sheet in the exercise of our jurisdiction under Section 482 Cr.P.C. is made out insofar as the case under Section 505 IPC is concerned," the Court observed as it refused to quash Chargesheet u/s 505 IPC.

However, so far as the offence under Section 66 of the IT Act was concerned, the Court opined that the offence was prima facie not made out as none of the acts in relation to a computer or computer system, like damaging it, disrupting it or causing denial of access to any person etc., as envisaged under Section 43 of the I.T. Act, was prima facie disclosed in the chargesheet.

Consequently, the Court issued a notice to the opposite parties returnable on December 14, 2023 with regard to the offence charged under Section 66 of the Information Technology Act, 2000. With this, the Court directed for the listing of the matter before an appropriate bench on the said date.

Case title - Sahil Mehra vs. State Of U.P. And 2 Others

Case citation: 2023 LiveLaw (AB) 476

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