K’taka HC drops criminal cases against two accused.

Bengaluru, Oct 16: The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday quashed the police criminal case against two people in connection with allegedly displaying ‘Jai Shri Ram’ slogans at a mosque.

The single division bench headed by Justice M. Nagaprasanna while passing the order considered the appeal filed by the accused and mentioned that it was not understandable how the use of ‘Jai Shri Ram’ slogans would hurt the religious sentiments of a community.

The accused were booked under Section 295A of the IPC for hoisting “Jai Shri Ram” slogans in a mosque.

They were also charged under Sections 447 (criminal offence), 505 (utterances causing public mischief), 506 (criminal intimidation), 34 (common intention) and 295A (hurting religious sentiments) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

The court noted that the complainant in the case had himself said that Hindus and Muslims lived in harmony in the affected area.

The chamber emphasized that allowing further proceedings against the plaintiffs would constitute an abuse of rights.

Referring to the Supreme Court order, the bench said no single act will constitute an offense under Section 295A of the IPC.

The police had accused the defendants of storming into the mosque at around 10:50 p.m. on September 24, 2023 and shouting slogans such as “Jai Shri Ram”. They were also accused of threatening people.

When the complaint was filed, the defendants were identified as unknown persons and were later taken into custody.

However, the accused denied the allegations against them and appealed to the Karnataka High Court and quashed the proceedings against them in this regard.

The court also noted that the complainant mentioned that Hindus and Muslims lived in harmony in the area and also alleged that shouting “Jai Shri Ram” slogans would create tension in the community.