Jammu & Kashmir court rejects bail to man accused of promoting religious enmity for speech about Mahatma Gandhi Assassination

A Jammu and Kashmir court recently dismissed a bail application filed by a person accused of promoting religious enmity among communities after his speech regarding assassination of Mahatma Gandhi went viral on social media (Darshan Lal Thappa V/s UT of Jammu and Kashmir)..The plea was rejected by Chief Judicial Magistrate Amarjeet Singh Langeh noting that the speech by the accused was highly obnoxious and amounted to a brazen display of hate and ill-will against a particular community. "The degree and extent of toxicity that petitioner has demonstrated in said speech has all and every possibility not only to stir up the emotions of targeted community but also promote and encourage dis-harmony, feelings of enmity and ill-will between different communities besides showing the particular community in bad taste and poor light," the Court said. The accused Darshan Lal Thappa was charged for offence under Section 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, language) of the Indian Penal Code after he delivered an allegedly communal speech about the assassination of 'father of the nation'. Thappa had uploaded the speech on social media and it became viral leading to registration of the case at police station Peer Mitha, Jammu. .The Court noted in its order that the accused had delivered the speech before an audience comprising representatives of different organizations and the speech alleged that a particular community engineered the partition of country so as to maintain its monopoly to rule the nation. He also alleged that in order to distract attention from the horrible act of partition, this particular community designed and brought about assassination of Mahatma Gandhi..The Court noted the following in its order with regard to the speech:"Also mentioned in his speech that this particular community plotted to portray assassin of Mahatma Gandhi as belonging to another religion till his name was actually announced by BBC, a broadcasting corporation of news and in the interregnum - petitioner asserts in said video that many people belonging to particular religion was massacred as a reaction to killing of Mahatma Gandhi. Because of the plot of this particular community, one lakh people belonging to particular religion were killed and their properties worth crores and crores of rupees vandalized in India, petitioner added in his speech.".The counsel for the petitioner, Pawan Kumar Kundal submitted that the applicant is innocent and belongs to Scheduled Caste community and has not committed any offence..The Court, however, opined that the contents of the speech are "too outrageous" and could stir up emotions of the targeted community and create ill-will between communities. ."Prima facie, speech alluded to petitioner in the video that has allegedly gone viral is undoubtedly not only too outrageous but also highly obnoxious and brazen display of hate and ill-will against the community that petitioner is time and again referring to in his speech," the order said. .The Court also referred to Supreme Court judgments to state that political thesis or historical facts, even if true, cannot be so presented as to promote feeling of enmity, hatred or ill-will between different communities..The context, content and impact of the speech, therefore, squarely attracts prima facie involvement of petitioner in commission of offence under Section 153A of IPC, it added..The Court, therefore, dismissed bail plea. .[Read Order]