This is the case involving the Instagram post by Kangana Ranaut on Instagram related to farmers protest.The FIR was registered against the actor following a complaint made by some members of a Sikh body that claimed Ranaut, through her Instagram post, had portrayed the farmers’ protest on Delhi borders as a Khalistani movement. The police then booked Ranaut on charges of deliberately hurting the community’s religious sentiments under Section 295-A of the Indian Penal Code. Kangana Ranaut approached the High Court earlier this month, seeking that the FIR registered against her in November this year at Khar police station Mumbai, following a complaint by a Sikh organisation, to be quashed. The police in this case made the statement after a bench comprising of Justices Nitin Jamdar and Sarang Kotwal said the issue involved the larger question of Ms. Ranaut’s fundamental right to free speech and that the court will have to grant her some ad-interim relief.
In her plea, advocate of Kangana Ranaut, Rizwan Sidiquee said while the complainants took objection to her Instagram post made on November 21, there was no legal case made out against her as to invoke charges under section 295-A, an accused must have made the offensive comment with the deliberate and malicious intent of hurting a particular person or a community’s religious sentiments. However, in the present case, the actor had no such intention.
The bench then asked the police if they intended to arrest Ranaut in the case. Chief Public Prosecutor Aruna Pai, who appeared for the police, said the Khar police had issued a notice to Ranaut, asking her to appear before them for questioning, but the actor hadn’t responded to it yet. A notice under Section 41A of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) is issued to an accused in cases where immediate arrest is not necessary, but the accused’s presence is required at police station for questioning. Ranaut’s counsel told the HC that she was willing to appear before the police, but apprehended her arrest in the case. Ranaut’s counsel said the actor will appear before the Khar police on December 22. Pai then made a statement on behalf of the investigating officer in the case that the “police will not arrest her (Ranaut) until the next date of hearing in the High Court.
The court accepted the police’s statement and posted the matter for further hearing on January 25, 2022. The High Court also granted time to the complainants till the next hearing to file a reply to Ranaut’s plea.
The Tripura high court (HC) has held that insults to religion made without any deliberate or malicious intention to outrage the religious feelings of a class would not amount to an offence under Section 295A of IPC. The single bench of Chief Justice Akil Kureshi noted: “Section 295A does not penalise any and every act of insult or an attempt to insult the religion or the religious beliefs but it penalises only those acts of insults or attempts which have been perpetrated with the deliberate and malicious intention of outraging the religious feelings of a particular class.”
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