Tweet On Navratri: Jammu & Kashmir High Court Refuses To Stay Investigation Against Advocate Deepika Singh Rajawat

The Bench of Justice Sanjay Dhar specifically observed,

"At this stage, it may not be appropriate to go into the merits of the rival contentions of the parties and it will also be not proper to interfere in the investigation of the FIR, which is stated to be at its infancy."

However, the Court said that before a final view is taken in the matter by the Investigating Agency, "this Court needs to go into the issues raised in the instant petition."

It is pertinent to note that in the FIR registered against her, she had already been admitted to anticipatory bail by the Principal Sessions Judge, Jammu.

In the aforesaid circumstances, the Court directed.

"The investigation in the FIR may continue but the final report shall not be filed by the Investigating Agency before the competent Court without permission of this Court."

Case against Rajawat

The petitioner- Advocate Dipika Singh Rajawat challenged FIR No.174/2020 registered against her for offences under Section 295-A and 505(2) IPC registered at Police Station, Gandhi Nagar, Jammu (for allegedly hurting religious sentiments of a community in her tweet on Navratri).

Notably, on October 19, Rajawat had tweeted a cartoon, contrasting women safety with Devi pujan offered on Navratri, with a caption "Irony".

The picture juxtaposed two scenes: in one scene, a man touching feet of a female Hindu deity during the nine-day Hindu festival of Navratri; in the other scene, with the header other days, a man is aggressively holding both the legs of a woman.

Rajawat had stated that she posted the said tweet "with an objective to raise voice against increasing rape cases in India and condemn people who bring atrocities on Women".

She further stated,

"The said picture which highlights the hypocrisy of society towards women was not about religion. It neither abuse Hindu religion nor religious faith of Hindus."

The Senior Counsel appearing for her, contended that if "we have a look at the image that was tweeted by the petitioner, it does not, in any manner, hurt the religious feeling of any community, inasmuch as it simply depicts that the women are being revered during Navratras festival, whereas similar treatment is not given to them during rest of the days of the year."

Earlier, in her anticipatory bail plea, she had alleged that her tweet was painted communally by the BJP IT Cell, which also started an online campaign against her on social media demanding her arrest, and promoted the hashtag— #ArrestDeepikaSinghRajawat.

Thereafter, Rajawat made several tweets, alleging that she was being threatened by the public and was "Not feeling safe" anymore. She also alleged that a mob had assembled outside her residence, and raised slogans against her.

To this, the AAG submitted before the Court that she "has herself admitted in her petition that as a reaction to her aforesaid tweet, a particular outfit felt agitated and they held demonstration in front of her residence as a consequence whereof she had to approach the police for her protection."

On this basis, the AAG submitted that, "at this stage, it cannot be stated that the act of the petitioner has not hurt the feelings of any section of the community."

Rajawat had represented the Kathua gangrape victim in 2018.