Kerala High Court: Ashok Menon, J., disposed of a criminal miscellaneous application since the matter was under investigation and at an early stage to quash the First Information Report (FIR).
In the present case, the petitioner has been alleged to have committed an offence under Section 153 A of the Penal Code, 1860 with regard to his posts on Facebook which have allegedly incited the feeling of community.
The advocate representing the petitioner, S. Chandrasekharan Nair submitted that his posts on Facebook bear no reference to any community. The advocate further submitted that in order to attract an offence committed under the stated section, it is essential that there must be an intention on the part of the accused to incite enmity between two communities. The counsel also relied on the Supreme Court decision in Manzar Sayeed Khan v. State of Maharashtra, (2007) 5 SCC 1 in support of his contentions.
The Court upon perusal of the arguments advanced by the petitioner stated that since the matter is still under investigation and the final report is yet to be filed it would be premature to quash the FIR. The Court further directed the investigating officer to look into the factors pointed out by the petitioner before filing of the final report. [Himalval Bhadrananda v. State of Kerala, 2020 SCC OnLine Ker 929, decided on 02-03-2020]