The Gujarat High Court recently denied to grant bail to an individual who was accused of posting objectionable content on Facebook concerning Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his late mother, Heeraben Modi.
A single bench of Justice Nirzar Desai emphasized that while individuals have the freedom to express their preferences regarding the Prime Minister, it is imperative to refrain from using derogatory and abusive language in such expressions.
“One can understand that a person may have like or dislike against any person but it does not mean that he may start using derogatory and abusive language for the Prime Minister of Country and his late mother. Therefore, only general observations are made by this Court rather than reproducing the contents of any of the post. On overall consideration of the material, this Court has found that the present applicant who is an Indian citizen has made all the attempts to destabilize the peace in the society,” the bench remarked.
Justice Desai also took note of the fact that the content shared by Afsalbhai Kasambhai Lakhani, the accused in question, contained derogatory and offensive statements directed not only towards the Prime Minister but also towards his deceased mother.
Furthermore, the Court highlighted that the accused had been regularly posting explicit and pornographic material on his Facebook page titled ‘Gujarat Trast Bhajpa Mast’.
The bench further observed that the accused had also been sharing posts that were pro-Pakistani and displayed an anti-Indian sentiment.
“This Court has found that he has posted certain posts which may disturb the communal harmony and may create unrest in the society as well as some material which is of such kind that it may have a larger impact over the peace and brotherhood in the society,” the bench noted.
The accused was charged based on a complaint filed by Devubhai Gadhavi on December 31, 2022. Gadhavi alleged that he came across objectionable posts against PM Modi and his late mother on the Facebook Page “Gujarat Trast Bhajpa Mast.”
The complaint was lodged at Sikka Police Station in Jamnagar, and the accused was booked under various provisions including defamation, hate speech, hurting religious sentiments, obscenity, and relevant sections of the Information and Technology Act.
In its order, the bench highlighted that the purpose of the posts was to defame and tarnish not only the image of the country’s leader but also to serve the accused’s personal hidden agenda.
“If such person is granted bail, there are all the chances that he may commit such offence once again by using another name and by creating fake IDs as the technology has advanced by now and once if such person is permitted to roam freely in the society, they may do the damage by his post on social media and once the damage is done, there is no point in arresting that person and punish him because larger damage by the time, such person is identified would already be done in form of disturbance of peace, harmony and brotherhood in the society, as social media is a very powerful tool to influence people,” the order reads.
The bench, therefore, dismissed the bail plea based on these observations.
