Ruling Party Cannot Assume That Any Expression Or Opinion About Govt's Functioning Amounts To Promoting Enmity: Madras High Court
Upasana Sajeev
5 Sep 2024 3:55 PM GMT
The Madras High Court recently observed that whenever opinions are expressed about the functioning of the Government, the members of the ruling party could not assume that the same would amount to promoting enmity.
Justice G Jayachandran added that the police should be responsible while registering FIR in such cases and must proceed with registering FIR only upon getting a proper legal opinion.
“The member of the ruling party, cannot assume that any such expression or opinion about the functioning of the Government, will amount to promoting hatred. The first respondent-Police should be responsible while entertaining the said complaint and shall proceed to register the F.I.R only after getting proper legal opinion,” the court observed.
The court was hearing a petition filed by Thirumurugan, a member of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) party to quash a case registered against him for making a Facebook post about the DMK party.
It was alleged that Thirumurugan had made a post on Facebook saying that every dawn people will look at newspapers to find out what is the agitation by the public. Following this, upon a complaint by Rajasekar, the District President of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) party, a case was registered for offences under Section 505(1)(b) and Section 505(2) IPC.
While Thirumurugan argued that the Facebook post did not attract the ingredients to prosecute him under the Sections, the State argued that Thirumurugan had enticed the public to agitate against the Government and also induced the public to create hatred against the Government.
After going through the Facebook post, the court opined that the same did not carry any hatred or ill-will and that Thirumurugan had only expressed anguish regarding the public displeasure over the Government. Thus, noting that the complaint was filed without any foundational facts, the court quashed the FIR.
Counsel for the Petitioner: Mr.A.V.Raja
Counsel for the Respondent: Mr.S.Udaya Kumar Government Advocate (Crl.Side) for R-1
Citation: 2024 LiveLaw (Mad) 341
Case Title: Thirumurugan v The State and Another
Case No: Crl. O.P.No.20874 of 2024
