"Message Prime Facie Objectionable": Bombay High Court Refuses To Quash FIR Over Alleged Abusive, Disrespectful Post On Goddess Durga

The Bombay High Court (Nagpur Bench) on Monday dismissed a 482 CrPC Application filed by one Jafar Ali Sher Ali Sayyad, seeking to quash an FIR registered against him for allegedly posting an abusive and disrespectful message about Goddess Durga on a WhatsApp group.

"On careful scrutiny of the FIR, we are of the prima facie opinion that the message posted by the applicant, as stated in the FIR, is objectionable," the Bench of Justice V. M. Deshpande and Justice Amit B. Borkar observed while dismissing the plea.

The facts in brief

The applicant is a Member of WhatsApp group consisting of the complainant and other colony members created for the purpose of Durga Pooja and other programmes of the Durga Festival.

Allegedly, on the night of October 9, 2019, at around 7.00 p.m., the applicant posted an abusive and disrespectful message about Goddess Durga with an intention to create disturbance in the locality and with an intention to hurt public sentiments in the locality and thus, the instant FIR got registered against him.

Before the Court, it was submitted that the message posted by the applicant was seriously an abusive message, which was sent to the members of the group by the applicant.

It was also stated that after registration of the FIR, initially the applicant was absconding and did not cooperate with the investigation but, after getting protection in the form of anticipatory bail, the applicant appeared before the Investigating Agency.

It was further stated that during the investigation, it was found that the applicant deleted the offending message from his Cell Phone with the intention to destroy evidence. 

Court's observations

At the outset, the Court noted, whether there was malicious intent on the part of the applicant, was a matter to be considered by the Investigating Agency during the investigation.

Therefore, the court opined that the right of the Investigating Agency to investigate the offence cannot be throttled and further observed thus:

"The power to quash the FIR cannot be invoked to scuffle the legitimate prosecution. This being settled position in law and it could not have proper to express a conclusive opinion as to the nature of the offence or nature of the investigation to be carried out by the Investigating Agency and it would be advisable to leave it for the Investigating Agency to consider as to whether there is sufficient material available against the applicant, in relation to the offence alleged against the applicant are fulfilled or not."

Lastly, noting that whether the contents of the message is malicious or intended to outrage religious sentiments of the community cannot be considered at this stage, the Court dismissed the 482 CrPC application.

Case title - Jafar Ali Sher Ali Sayyad v. State of Maharashtra and another

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