Calling someone ‘Mian- Tis or’ Pakistani ‘is not a crime: Supreme Court

The Supreme Court, while commenting during the hearing of a case, said that it may be wrong to call someone ‘Mian-Tian’ or ‘Pakistani’. But there cannot be a crime. The Supreme Court, while making this comment on the case of calling a government employee ‘Pakistani’, closed the case and freed the accused. The Supreme Court said, calling someone ‘Mian-Tia or’ Pakistani ‘is not equal to the crime of hurting religious sentiments under Section 298 of the IPC. This decision of the bench of Justice Biwi Nagaratna and Justice Satish Chandra Sharma is on February 11. The bench said, of course, the given statements are wrong. However, this is not equal to hurting the religious sentiments of the informer. Therefore, we believe that the appellant should also be freed under Section 298 IPC.

What is the whole matter

1. The complainant in this case was Urdu translator and caretaker clerk.
2. Accused Hari Nandan Singh had sought some information from the Additional Collector under the Right to Information Act (RTI Act) and the above information was sent to him.
3. If not satisfied, Singh filed an appeal after manipulating the documents allegedly sent. Nevertheless, in appellate proceedings, the appellate authority directed the complainant to give information to Singh personally.
4. For the above purpose, the complainant visited the residence of the accused to hand over the information.
5. Singh initially refused to accept the documents, but accepted him at the request of the complainant.
6. However, Singh allegedly abused the complainant citing his religion and used criminal force against him.
7. The purpose of which was to intimidate him and prevent him from performing his duties as a public servant. As a result, FIR was recorded against Singh under Section 298 (hurting religious sentiments), 504 (insulting with the intention of disturbing peace), 506 (criminal intimidation), 353 (using an attack or usage of criminal forces to prevent government employee from discharging his duty) and 323 (voluntary).

The charge sheet was filed against the accused and the magistrate took cognizance of the above crimes and summoned Singh. After this, Singh filed an application to free the charge under Section 239 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CRPC). By order dated March 24, 2022, the magistrate admitted that adequate material is available on records against Singh under sections 353, 298 and 504 of the IPC. However, the magistrate further admitted that under sections 323 and 506 of the IPC there was a lack of evidence for crimes punishable and freed them.

Also read- Dhananjay Munde’s chair in Maharashtra, what is that case of sarpanch murder, know

The Sessions Court and the Rajasthan High Court dismissed the petition challenging the said order, after which an appeal was made in the Supreme Court. The apex court said that no attack or force was used by the appellant under Section 353 IPC. Therefore, the High Court should have been freed under Section 353 IPC. The court also admitted that the appellant cannot be accused under Section 504 IPC, as no such task was done on his behalf. Due to which peace can be disturbed, he should also be freed under Section 504 IPC. Regarding Section 298, the court said that although the said statements were bad, crime will not remain under the said provision. Therefore, the accused was freed from all crimes.