The Bombay High Court building | via Commons
Srinagar- The Bombay High Court has dismissed a petition seeking to quash an first information report (FIR) registered against a young Kashmiri professor for his WhatsApp status terming the abrogation of Article-370 as a “black day” for Jammu and Kashmir.
A Division Bench of Justices Sunil Shukre and MM Sathaye made the observation while refusing to quash a FIR registered against professor, Javed Ahmed Hajam, accused of promoting enmity between two groups with his WhatsApp status about the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution by BJP-led government at the Centre on August 5, 2019, Bar and Bench reported Friday.
Hajam, a professor at the Kolhapur College, had also allegedly posted another Whatsapp status wishing Pakistan Happy Independence Day on August 14.
“The first message which has been posted on the whatsapp application by the petitioner is, without giving any reason and without making any critical analysis of the step taken by the Central Government towards abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution. In our view, this message has the tendency to play with emotions of different groups of people in India as there are strong feelings of contrasting nature about status of Jammu and Kashmir in India and, therefore, one has to tread cautiously in such a field, lest the emotions may reach up to such a level as to bring about consequences or reasonable possibility of consequences visiting as envisaged in Section 153-A of IPC,” the order stated.
It concluded that it was a matter of trial to examine whether that message really attracted an offence under Section 153A of IPC.
“As of now, prima-facie it does seem to be having such impact on the mind of different groups of people, for the reasons stated just now, and hence prima-facie constitutes the offence under Section 153-A of IPC,” the Court held while refusing to quash the FIR.
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