New Delhi: The Supreme Court made an important comment, saying that it may be wrong to say ‘Mian-Tian’ or ‘Pakistani’, but it is not a crime to hurt religious sentiments. A bench of Justice Biwi Nagratna and Satish Chandra Sharma gave this important verdict, closing the case against a person accused of calling a government employee ‘Pakistani’.
Urdu translator had filed a case
A complaint was lodged by an Urdu translator from Jharkhand and an executive clerk. According to the complainant, when he went to meet the accused to give information about the Right to Information (RTI) application, he was abused by citing his religion and was prevented from doing government work.
Case registered under IPC sections
The person was booked under Section 298 (hurting religious sentiments) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), 504 (insulting with the intention of disturbing peace) and 353 (an attack or usage of criminal force to prevent government employee from discharging his duty).
Supreme Court rejected
Rejecting the order of the Jharkhand High Court, the Supreme Court said that no such work was done by the accused which would disturb the peace. “The appellant is accused of hurting his religious sentiments as ‘Mian-Tian’ and ‘Pakistani’. Undoubtedly, the given statements are poor tasted. However, it is not equal to hurting the religious sentiments of the informer.”
