The Kerala High Court recently quashed criminal proceedings against an Australian tourist of Jewish descent who was booked by the Fort Kochi police for tearing down posters on the Israel-Palestine conflict [Zara Michele Shilansk v State of Kerala & ors].
Justice Bechu Kurian Thomas found that these posters were put up without legal authority. Therefore, he opined that tearing these posters down cannot be termed an illegal act although ideally, the tourist should have left it to the concerned authorities to take them down.
"If a poster has been put up without authority, it is irrefutably an illegal act. Removal of an illegal poster cannot be said to be an illegal act done malignantly or wantonly, even if it is done by a private individual, though ideally, petitioner ought to have approached the law enforcement agencies, instead of tearing it by herself. Since tearing down a poster kept without any legal authority cannot strictly fall within the term illegal act, the main ingredient of Section 153 is lacking in the final report," the Court observed.
The tourist was visiting Fort Kochi when she noticed two posters with the slogan "Silence is Violence, Stand up for humanity."
Disturbed by the posters, she and her friend tried to get them removed through the local tourism office. Since this effort was unsuccessful, the tourist and her friend resorted to tearing down the posters themselves.
Following this incident, the Area Secretary of the Students Islamic Organization (a student wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami) filed a complaint against the tourist.
A criminal complaint was registered under Section 153 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), which punishes those who intentionally do illegal or wanton acts that could provoke a riot.
The tourist later secured bail, but was prevented from leaving the country as a lookout notice was issued against her. As a result, she was detained at the airport.
She proceeded to challenge the validity of the proceedings initiated against her before the High Court.
The Court granted her relief on September 10 after noting that the essential elements of the offence under Section 153 of the IPC were not present in this case.
"The final report does not even allege that the posters were torn with the intention to provoke or knowing that it will provoke a person to commit the offence of rioting. The final report is totally silent as to whether the petitioner was aware that the tearing of the poster will cause the offence of rioting or provoke people to indulge in rioting," the Court added, before quashing the criminal case.
Advocates Blaze K Jose, Nikhil Sanjay, Treesa Rose and Airine Joby represented the tourist. Public Prosecutor Sreeja V represented the State.
[Read Judgment]