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IN THE HIGH COURT OF ANDHRA PRADESH AT AMARAVATI
R. RAGHUNANDAN RAO, J.
Kollu Ankababu S/o. Late Venkatadri – Appellant
Versus
Tirupathi Ramesh, S/o. Venkata Narayana – Respondent
Crl.P.No.8348 of 2022
Decided on : 02-12-2022
Indian Penal Code, 1860 - Section 153-A, 120-B, 505(2) – Offence Punishable –First Information Report - Punishment of criminal conspiracy - Wantonly giving provocation with intent to cause riot, If rioting be committed -Whether Facebook post was intentionally made for promoting class/community hatred and has tendency to provoke enmity between two communities –Held, Court State of Punjab, would contend that petitioner had a clear intention to create ill-will against Government and Chief Minister’s office while posting message which is under consideration and as such petitioner is liable to be prosecuted and convicted under above provisions of law - She would further submit that in similar circumstances, a learned Single Judge of this Court, by an order had held that even if a case is not properly made out in complaint, investigation into an offence punishable under Section 153-A IPC should not be stalled at stage of investigation –Ordered Accordingly.
ORDER :
Heard Sri T. Sreedhar, learned counsel for the petitioner and Smt. Y.L. Siva Kalpana Reddy, learned Special Public Prosecutor for CID appearing for the 2nd respondent.
2. This criminal petition has been filed to quash Crime No.61 of 2022 of CID Police Station, Amaravati, Mangalagiri, Guntur District. The allegations in the complaint are that the petitioner, who is a journalist, and who was the administrator of a Whatsapp group, had forwarded a media post that a large amount of gold had been seized by the authorities in Gannavaram Airport from a passenger, who had arrived from Dubai. The social media post further stated that a special team from Hyderabad had arrived and was conducting an enquiry which showed that the wife of a key-officer in the Chief Minister’s office is said to be the person from whom the gold had been seized and that this person had assistance of two senior officers, who were all being investigated. This message is said to have been forwarded from a Whatsapp group called “Time to Time News”.
3. The aforesaid complaint was given by a person said to be working in the Chief Minister’s office as assistant manager. Apart from setting out the contents of the above message, the de facto complainant had also stated that the petitioner herein, who had posted this message in social media, had a history of posting such messages which were untrue and designed to create enmity between various groups in the State.
4. On the basis of this complaint, a case in Crime No.61 of 2022 was registered with the CID Police Station, Amaravati, Mangalagiri, Guntur District, and investigation has been taken up for offences punishable under Sections 153-A, 505(2) read with Section 120-B IPC. The petitioner was also arrested in the course of the investigation and was sought to be remanded to judicial custody. However, the Magistrate refused to remand the petitioner and the petitioner was set at liberty.
5. Sri T. Sreedhar, learned counsel for the petitioner would submit that the allegations in the complaint and also the contents of the remand report would show that the said allegations would not amount to an offence under Section 153-A nor Section 505 (2) IPC. He would further submit that there is no allegation of any conspiracy entered by the petitioner with any other person to set up a case under Section 120-B IPC.
6. Sri T. Sreedhar would rely upon the judgment of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in the case of Bilal Ahmed Kaloo vs. State of A.P., (1997) 7 SCC 431; Patricia Mukhim vs. State of Meghalaya and Ors., 2021 SCC Online SC 258 and Balwant Singh and Anr., vs. State of Punjab, (1995) 3 SCC 214.
7. Smt. Y.L. Siva Kalpana Reddy, learned Special Public Prosecutor for CID appearing for the 2nd respondent, on the other hand, would contend that the petitioner is habituated to posting messages and news items on the social media denigrating the dignity of the office of the Chief Minister and its officials and the same is being done in pursuance of his political ideology as he belongs to a political party which is presently in opposition. She would further submit that the contents of the message clearly attract the offences under Section 153-A and Section 505 (2) IPC. She contends that the said offence has been committed with a view to downgrade the image of the office of the Chief Minister and connected officials in conjunction with other persons who hold similar views and consequently, the provisions of Section 120-B IPC would be applicable.
153A. Promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony.—
(1) Whoever—
(a) by words, either spoken or written, or by signs or by visible representations or otherwise, promotes or attempts to promote, on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, caste or community or any other ground whatsoever, disharmony or feel
The court established that mere expressions of political support do not constitute an offence under Section 153A IPC unless they promote enmity between distinct groups.
The FIR lacks necessary ingredients for offences under Section 196(1)(a) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, justifying its quashing due to vagueness.
Point of law: The extreme that the High Court thought that in the exercise of its inherent powers under Section 482 of the CrPC, it could quash a First Information Report. The police had not even com....
FIR quashed - Through Facebook ID, posted objectionable material - Religious sentiments - Petitioner has shared post of other person, even, contents of FIR does not, prima facie, establish alleged of....
The judgment established that to prove an offence under Section 153A IPC, there must be evidence of promoting enmity between different groups, and mere statements or social media posts may not be suf....
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