To establish an offence under Section 295-A IPC, there must be deliberate and malicious intent to outrage religious feelings; mere careless or unwitting acts do not suffice.

JUDGMENT :

Arun Kumar Singh Deshwal, J.

1. Compromise affidavit filed on behalf of the applicant is taken on record.

2. Heard Sri Amir Khan, learned counsel for the applicant, Sri Saurabh Kumar, holding brief of Sri Hemant Sharma, learned counsel for the opposite party no. 2 and Sri Pankaj Saxena, learned A.G.A. for the State.

3. The present 482 Cr.P.C. application has been filed to quash the entire proceedings of charge sheet dated 18.02.2019 in Criminal Case No. 620 of 2019 under Section 295-A I.P.C., Police Station- Khurja Nagar, District- Bulandshahr, pending in the court of learned Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Khurja, Bulandshahr as well as cognizance order dated 05.07.2019 passed by learned Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Khurja, Bulandshahr.

4. Contention of learned counsel for the applicant is that applicant made certain post on social media which is the basis for the F.I.R. in question. It is further submitted, even if entire allegation of F.I.R. as well as post of the applicant on social media is taken as true even then offence u/s 295-A I.P.C. is not made out as the basic ingredient u/s 295-A I.P.C. is deliberate and malicious intent to outrage religious feelings but in the post of the applicant, there is nothing which shows that it is directly or indirectly related to any religion or intended to outrage any religious feelings. It is further submitted that now the applicant and opposite party no. 2 have also settled their dispute amicably and a written compromise dated 20.11.2024 has also been entered into between them in which opposite party no. 2 has clearly stated that he does not want to pursue the impugned proceeding.

5. Per contra, learned A.G.A. has submitted that it is a State case which relates to the public at large and merely because opposite party no. 2 was the first informant, impugned proceeding cannot be quashed on the basis of compromise between the applicant and the first informant.

6. Considering the submissions of parties and on perusal of record, it appears that the applicant has posted a message on social media which is being quoted as under :-

7. This message was itself basis for lodging of F.I.R. and thereafter, filing impugned charge-sheet as no other material except the statement of opposite party no. 2 as well as the aforesaid message was the ground for filing the charge-sheet.

8. To attract the liability u/s 295-A I.P.C., basic condition is that the intention must be to outrage the religious feelings of any class of citizens, by words, either spoken or written, or by signs or by visible representations or otherwise, insults or attempts to insult the religion or the religious beliefs of the class of citizens. Section 295-A I.P.C. is being quoted as under :-

"295A. Whoever, with deliberate and malicious intention of outraging the religious feelings of any class of citizens of India, by words, either spoken or written, or by signs or by visible representations or otherwise, insults or attempts to insult the religion or the religious beliefs of that class, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to three years, or with fine, or with both."

9. From the perusal of the definition of Section 295-A I.P.C., it is clear that to attract the liability under this section, intention must be to outrage the religious feeling or religious belief of any class of citizen. If from the words, spoken or written or by any other mode, it appears that it was not for outraging the religious feeling but for other purpose like attacking on a political party or a particular group which is not associated in any manner to any particular religion, then the offence under this section will not be attracted. It is also clear from Section 295-A I.P.C. that the intention to outrage the religious feeling should be deliberate and malicious. Therefore, if a