Bombay HC Grants Anticipatory Bail To Woman Booked Under S.153A For Facebook Post [Read Order]

The Bombay High Court has granted anticipatory bail to a woman booked under Section 153 (a)(1) of the Indian Penal Code for a Facebook post.

An FIR was registered at Oshiwara police station against the applicant woman on Thursday.

According to the prosecution, the applicant had posted an article on “Facebook” which is “defamatory in nature and has hurt the feelings of a particular class of people from the society”.

Section 153 A reads: “Promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony.”

The police are yet to recover the mobile phone of the applicant from which the said post was published.

Applicant’s advocate Shambhu Jha argued that his client’s custodial interrogation may be avoided as she is a lady and that she is ready to co-operate with the investigating agency.

Thus, Justice AS Gadkari ordered that the applicant accused be released in the event of an arrest on a Rs. 25,000 bond. Also, the accused has been asked to attend to the investigating officer and co-operate with the investigation.

Read the Order here.