The case stems from a complaint that alleged Bilal had uploaded a post that hurt the complainant’s religious sentiments
Team Clarion
BHOPAL — The Jabalpur bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court has dismissed a petition seeking to quash a First Information Report (FIR) filed against a Muslim man for allegedly uploading an offensive post on Instagram abusing Hindu deities.
The accused, identified as Mohammad Bilal, claimed that on August 15, 2023, some unknown persons hacked his Instagram account and uploaded the post.
The court, presided over by Justice Gurpal Singh Ahluwalia, rejected the petition, stating that Bilal’s defence — that his account was hacked — cannot be considered at this stage of the investigation. It also highlighted that while exercising its quashing powers under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure or under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, it “has to consider the allegations as a gospel truth and then come to a conclusion as to whether any offence is made out or not.”
Advocate Rishabh Singh appeared for the appellant and Government Advocate Abhishek Singh appeared for the respondent.
The case stemmed from a complaint that alleged Bilal had uploaded a post that hurt the complainant’s religious sentiments by posting offensive content targeting Hindu gods, Sanatana Dharma and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, on his Instagram account. When confronted by the complainant, rather than clarifying that his account had been hacked, the petitioner allegedly abused and humiliated the complainant, who belonged to the Scheduled Caste community.
An FIR was registered on August 17, 2023, under Sections 294 (obscene acts), 153-A (promoting enmity between groups), and 295-A (acts intended to outrage religious feelings) of the Indian Penal Code, as well as sections of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
