Kerala High Court Grants Bail To Man Who Allegedly Made Abusive & Casteist Remarks Against Minister K. Radhakrishnan On Facebook

The crime was registered under Section 153A of IPC (promoting enmity between different groups), Section 120(o) (penalty for causing nuisance and violation of public order) of the Kerala Police Act and Section 3 (punishment for offences atrocities) of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

Justice K Babu on granting bail held thus:

“I have gone through the case diary. The investigation is almost in the final stage. On a perusal of the materials placed before the court, I am of the view that further detention of the appellant is not required.”

The appellant had allegedly commented on a Facebook post along with a photograph of the Minister which was defamatory. The allegation against the appellant was that the comment contained abusive words using the caste name of the Minister. It was alleged that the comment was made on the post to defame the appellant and to create enmity among different groups based on caste and community to disturb public tranquillity.

The Counsel for the appellant submitted that he had no intention to defame the Minster or to create enmity between different groups based on caste or community. It was also submitted that the appellant had only accidentally shared the Facebook post and had also made a public apology.

The Court noted that the appellant had surrendered before the investigating officer and that he was arrested and produced before the Court. It noted that the appellant has been remanded to judicial custody.

Accordingly, the Court granted bail on finding that the investigation was almost over and no further detention was required.

Counsel for the appellant: Advocates K Shaj, Beena N.Kartha, C.Ijlal, Poornima Rajan, Arun Chand, Bharat Vijay P., Majid Muhammed K., Minu Vittorria Paulson, Gopika Gopal, Archana Suresh Archana P.P.

Counsel for the respondents: Public Prosecutor G Sudheer

Citation: 2024 LiveLaw (Ker) 66

Case title: Suresh Kumar @ Sarath Nair v State of Kerala

Case number: CRL.A NO. 138 OF 2024

Click Here To Read/Download The Order