Merely expressing support for Pakwithout India ref no offence: HC

Prayagraj: The Allahabad high court has observed that merely expressing support for Pakistan without referencing any specific incident or mentioning India by name does not prima facie constitute an offence under section 152 (act endangering sovereignty or unity and integrity of India) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).

The court said, " Section 152 BNS is a new section providing stringent punishment and there was no corresponding section in IPC. Therefore, before invoking the section 152 BNS, reasonable care and standards of reasonable person should be adopted as spoken words or posts on social media is also covered by the liberty of freedom of speech and expression , which should not be narrowly construed unless it is of such nature which affect the sovereignty and integrity of a country or encourages separatism."

Allowing bail application of one Riyaz, who is accused of pledging support to Pakistan without mentioning name of India and any particular incident, Justice Arun Kumar Singh Deshwal, "Considering the submissions of the counsel for the parties and perusal of record, it is not in dispute that while posting the aforesaid post through Instagram ID, the applicant has not mentioned anything, which shows disrespect towards our country. Merely showing support to Pakistan without referring to any incident or mentioning the name of India, will not prima facie attract the offence under Section 152 BNS", the court added.

During the course of hearing, the counsel for the applicant submitted that the social media post by the applicant did not lower the dignity and sovereignty of the country, as neither the Indian Flag nor its name or any photo was posted which showed any disrespect to the country.

"Merely supporting a country, even if the country is an enemy to the country of India, will not attract the ingredients of section 152 BNS," added the applicant's counsel.

On the other hand, the state government's counsel opposed the bail application submitting that such a post of the applicant through the Instagram ID encourages separatism and therefore, the applicant is not entitled to be released on bail.

The court while allowing the bail application further observed, "For attracting the ingredients of section 152 BNS, there must be purpose by spoken or written words, signs, visible representations, the electronic communication to promote secession, armed rebellion, subversive activities or encourages feeling of separating activities or endangers the sovereignty, unity and integrity of India. Therefore, merely posting a message to simply show support of any country may create anger or disharmony among citizens of India and may also be punishable under section 196 (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc.) of BNS, which is punishable up to seven years but definitively will not attract the ingredients of section 152 BNS, the court added in its order dated July 10."