[Section 153A IPC] Contents Of Speech Indirectly Refer To Two Religions 'In The Form Of Innuendo': Karnataka HC Refuses To Quash FIR Against PFI Leader [Read Order]
The Karnataka High Court on Thursday refused to quash a FIR registered against a National Committee Member of the Popular Front of India, while holding that even though the offending speech does not directly refer to two religions, "it attracts the provisions of Section 153 of the IPC, which is in the form of innuendo." The Bench of Justice BA Patil however observed that the on close reading of the contents of the impugned speech, "there are two religions". It said, "On close reading of the said provisions, with reference to the decisions quoted supra, in order to attract the provisions of Section 153A of IPC, accused must be making the statement with an intention and the said statement must provoke or promote feeling of enmity, hatred or ill-will between different religious or racial or other language or regional groups or castes. Significantly, the Petitioner-accused had also argued that he had no "intention" to promote disharmony or the feeling of the hatred/ ill-will between different religious groups, and the proceedings against him must therefore be quashed.
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