Telangana High Court quashes FIR against law graduate who tweeted that State's law and order was a joke

The Telangana High Court recently quashed a case against a law graduate who posted a tweet on social media platform X (formerly Twitter) last year stating that law and order in the State had become a joke [Vijay Gopal vs State Of Telangana]..The petitioner had been booked for the offences of intent to provoke breach of peace or promote enmity between groups. Justice T Madhavi Devi said the remark may not have been in “good taste” but it was a general comment with no intention to provoke breach of public peace.“In this case, the comment is a general comment though it may not be in good taste but does not appear to have been passed to provoke to break the public peace or to promote feeling of enmity, hatred or ill-will between different groups or castes or communities by creating/promoting alarming news against the prohibitory order passed by the Commissioner of Police, Hyderabad,” said the Court..The petitioner Vijay Gopal had read about orders prohibiting public assembly near examination centres and had posted the following comment on X:"Law & order has become a joke in Telangana... If you cannot do your job without being so insecured (sic) all the time, you should find another job. This is nothing but abuse of office. lt is just (an) exam, not some war. Prohibitory orders, silly!”Soon thereafter, the police registered an FIR against him under Section 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) and 505 (2) (statements creating or promoting enmity, hatred or ill-will between classes) of the Indian Penal Code. .The 35-year-old challenged the FIR before High Court contending that his comments do not constitute any criminal offence.Speaking to the Bar and Bench, Gopal said it was his first case after studying law. He argued the case in-person..After examining the two provisions invoked against Gopal in the FIR, the Court noted that to attract the offences, there has to be an intentional insult which is likely to cause provocation to break the public peace or to commit any other offence.It added there also has to be promotion of feeling of enmity, hatred or ill-will between different religious, racial, language or regional groups or castes or communities, to invoke the offences..However, the Court found the case otherwise and opined that Gopal by his comment against the prohibitory orders passed by Commissioner of Police, Hyderabad had committed no such offence.“This Court finds that in this case, there are no two groups as required to attract the said provisions and there appears to be no intention to create or promote feeling of enmity, hatred or ill-will between different groups or of disturbing the public peace,” the single-judge said..Consequently, the Court quashed the First Information Report (FIR) registered by Begum Bazar Police Station, Hyderabad. Gopal told the Bar and Bench that he has already initiated proceedings against the police officers who had allegedly illegally detained him in connection with the social media post last year before formally registering the First Information Report (FIR) in question.[Read Judgment]