Freedom of speech and expression, as well as the reasonable interpretation of speech in the context of political activism and public discourse.

JUDGMENT

Anoop Chitkara, J. - Aggrieved by the registration of FIR captioned above, the accused has come up before this court under section 482 CrPC for its quashing, submitting that it is a misuse of State criminal machinery for the oblique motive of political gain, and even if all the allegations leveled in the FIR are accepted in the entirety, still they do not prima facie constitute any offence.

2. The context in which the FIR came to be registered was that on 11th March 2022, a Hindi movie, 'The Kashmir Files,' was released. The petitioner claims in paragraph 3 that various State Governments granted Entertainment Tax exemptions to the movie, and when a similar demand of concession was made for Delhi, Mr. Arvind Kejriwal, Delhi's Chief Minister, in the State's Assembly not only refused to grant any such concession but allegedly also mocked the authenticity of the movie's storyline. It agitated the petitioner and being a spokesperson of BJP-Delhi, the enraged petitioner gave an interview on 30th March, 2022, to the media in which he severely criticized Mr. Arvind Kejriwal. The interview was widely circulated on print and digital platforms, including Twitter.

3. As per paragraph 4 of the petition, the petitioner criticized the statement of Mr. Arvind Kejriwal and demanded an apology for mocking the plight of Kashmiri Hindus, and stated that BJP's youth wing, would continue demonstration till Mr. Arvind Kejriwal apologizes by making a statement that the genocide of Hindus that had taken place in Kashmir was not a hoax. The transcript of the statement made by the petitioner, (Annexure P-2), reads as follows, 'Aaj jo unhone kaha hai uske liye unhe maafi mangni chaiye. Agar wo maafi nahi mangte to Bhartiya Janta Yuva Morcha ka ye Karyakarta unhe jine nahi dega. - Hum sab tab tak apna pradarshan jaari rakhenge jab tak vo is desh ke hinduoon se maafi nahi maang lete, ye kehne ke liye ki es desh ke hinduoon ka narsanhaar hua tha Kashmir mein wo jhutha tha.' Its English translation would be 'He should apologize for what he has said today. If he doesn't apologize, then this BJP worker will not let him live. They would continue their agitation till the time he apologizes to the Hindus of this country for his statement that the genocide of Hindus in Kashmir was a lie'. This interview got wide public attention and the petitioner posted it on his Twitter handle and social media.

4. After coming to know about this interview, respondent no.2 gave a written complaint to the Cyber Crime Cell of Punjab Police at Mohali on 1st Apr 2022, against the petitioner and other unknown persons for causing instigation, incitement, criminal intimidation to cause violence, use of force, imminent threat of life to Sh. Arvind Kejriwal and other leaders of Aam Admi Party (AAP.) The complainant stated that he was the Lok Sabha in charge of the AAP and was constrained to file the present complaint due to the activities of the petitioner, who made and published inflammatory statements to outrage religious feelings and promote disharmony, and further create the feeling of enmity, hatred and ill will, etc. He informed the police that Mr. Tejinder Pal Singh Bagga gave an interview to various news channels and circulated it on print and social media, in which he had made false, fabricated, and communally divisive statements against Sh. Arvind Kejriwal, which makes out prima facie case under Sections 153, 153A, 505, 505(2), 506, 116 read with Sections 143, 147, 120-B IPC against Tejinder Pal Singh Bagga and other unknown persons, who were behind this pre-designed malicious propaganda.

The complainant further stated that the statement made by the petitioner, 'Sh. Arvind Kejriwal, what he is saying today, today I wan