The Supreme Court has discharged a man accused of hurting the religious sentiments of a government official by allegedly calling him “miyan-tiyan” and “Pakistani”, stating that while the remarks were in poor taste, they did not amount to the offence alleged.
The bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and S C Sharma, in its order dated February 11, 2024, held that the accused, Hari Nandan Singh, could not be charged under Section 298 of the IPC as his words did not meet the threshold of wounding religious feelings, The Indian Express reported.
Singh had approached the Supreme Court after the Jharkhand High Court refused to quash the case against him, following a complaint filed by an Urdu Translator and Acting Clerk (Right to Information) in the Sub-Divisional Office, Chas.
The case stemmed from an incident in November 2020, when Singh, dissatisfied with the information provided under the Right to Information Act, allegedly used religiously charged terms against the complainant while he was performing his official duties. The complainant reported the matter to the Sub-Divisional Officer, Chas, leading to the registration of an FIR and the subsequent filing of a chargesheet by the police.
Singh was initially charged under Sections 298 (hurting religious feelings), 504 (intentional insult to provoke a breach of peace), 506 (criminal intimidation), 353 (assault or use of force against a public servant), and 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) of the IPC, though the Magistrate court dropped the last charge due to lack of evidence.
When Singh sought discharge, the Magistrate upheld charges under Sections 298, 353, and 504, which was later affirmed by the Additional Sessions Judge-1, Bokaro, and the Jharkhand High Court.
The Supreme Court, however, ruled that there was no assault or use of force to justify charges under Section 353, nor any act by Singh that could have provoked a breach of peace to sustain a charge under Section 504. Consequently, the bench held that Singh should be discharged from both charges along with Section 298, thereby quashing the proceedings against him.