Religious feelings are not so fragile to be hurt by speech: Delhi High Court quashes summons issued to Raj Thackeray

The Delhi High Court recently quashed summoning orders issued against Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray for an allegedly inflammatory speech he delivered on Chhath Puja..Justice Jasmeet Singh quashed orders issued by various courts in Bokaro (Jharkhand), Begusarai (Bihar), Patna and Ranchi.While passing the order, the Court observed that India is a country which is unique owing to its various religions, faiths and languages which coexist side by side."I am of the view that India is a country which is unique due to various religions, faiths and languages which coexist side by side. Its unity lies in this “coexistence.” Religious feelings and religious sentiments cannot be so fragile as to be hurt or provoked by a speech of an individual. Religion and faith are not as fragile as human beings. They have survived for centuries and will survive for many more. Faith and religion are more resilient and cannot be hurt or provoked by views of/ instigation by an individual," the order stated..Complaints were filed against Thackeray in several cities after he allegedly made some statements regarding Chhath Pooja in the year 2009. The complainants said that Thackeray’s comments hurt their religious sentiments.The magistrates took cognisance of offences under Sections 153A (promoting enmity between groups), 153B (imputations, assertions prejudicial to national integration), 295A (outraging religious feeling) and 298 (wounding the religious feelings) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).In 2011, the Supreme Court had transferred all the matters to the Tis Hazari court. Thackeray then moved the Delhi High Court in 2018 seeking quashing of the complaints against him..Before the High Court, counsel for Thackeray argued that he has not made any inflammatory provocative speech as alleged in the complaint. He added that if the speech has caused any inadvertent and unintentional hurt to any religious sentiments of any person or community, Thackeray tenders his unconditional apology and expresses regret and sadness for the same..After considering the case, Justice Singh quashed the summoning orders, noting that the procedures laid down in the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) have not been followed for issuing these summons. "In the present case there has been no inquiry conducted by the learned Magistrate before proceeding to issue summons...Hence in the absence of inquiry, the summoning of the petitioner u/s 298 IPC cannot be sustained."Moreover, for invoking the offence of hurting religious sentiments, no previous sanction of the Central or state government was obtained, as mandated under the CrPC.The Court, however, refused to quash the criminal complaint..Senior Advocate Arunabh Chowdhary and Advocates Ashutosh Dubey, Sayaji Nangre, Abhishek Chauhan, Vaibhav Tomar, Amit P Shahi and Karma Dorjee appeared for Thackeray.Additional Standing Counsel (ASC) Rupali Bandhopadhya along with Advocates Akshay Kumar and Abhijeet Kumar appeared for the State..[Read Order]