Bombay High Court refuses to quash SC/ST Act case filed over 'objectionable' WhatsApp status

The Nagpur Bench of Bombay High Court recently rejected a plea to quash a criminal case registered under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act over an allegedly objectionable WhatsApp status. [Kishor Pandurang Landkar v. State of Maharashtra & Anr.].The Court also highlighted that people should be responsible while putting up WhatsApp statuses, since it is a form of communication that is checked by others every now and then..In this case, a division bench of Justices Vinay Joshi and Valmiki Sa Menezes found that there was no justification for the accused, Kishore Landkar, to display the allegedly objectionable WhatsApp status..The Court rejected Landkar's contention that the WhatsApp status was only meant to be seen by his contacts and not intended to outrage the feelings of any class of persons. ."The very purpose of WhatsApp status is to convey something to his contacts. It is nothing but a mode of communication with known persons. One puts up the status in order to get a reaction and most of them crave for support. Now a days, the people are checking WhatApp status now and then. One should behave with sense of responsibility while communicating something to others. The applicant cannot shed his primacy responsibility by saying about its limited circulation. There is no justification for the applicant to display such kind of status" the Court reasoned, in its 4 page order..Landkar had allegedly posed a question to be searched on Google on his WhatsApp status uploaded last March and added in the same status that the said search will lead to "shocking results." .The complainant claimed that when he did the Google search, material that would outrage the feelings of a religious class was shown, prompting him to file a first information report (FIR) against Landkar. .Landkar denied having kept the status with any intention to outrage the feelings of any class. He added that the status could only be seen by a select people who had his number, which proved his intention to not outrage the feelings of anyone. .The prosecution opposed the plea to quash the case and pointed out that the investigation was still in progress.The Court found that the police report had, prima facie, disclosed a deliberate and malicious intent by the accused to insult the feelings of a group of citizens. The Court further noted that the investigation was still in "embryo stage" and that Landkar had not denied that he had put up the allegedly objectionable WhatsApp status. In view of this, the Court rejected Landkar's plea..Advocate SS Dhengale appeared for Landkar. Additional public prosecutor NR Rode was for State. Advocates PS Wathore appeared for the complainant..[Read Order]