DULAL GHOSH Vs. STATE OF TRIPURA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Petitioner has prayed for quashing of an FIR dtd. 9/2/2020 registered as P.S. Case No.10 of 2020 before Kamalpur Police Station by one Shyamal Kanti Paul, respondent No.4 which is registered by the concerned police station for offence under Sec. 295A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC, for short). According to the complainant, by putting a comment on his Facebook, the petitioner has hurt the religious feelings of the Hindu community. The petitioner contends that the post in question is deliberately twisted and misinterpreted. The petitioner neither had the intention nor desired to hurt the religious feelings of any community or class of citizens. The petitioner, therefore, requests that the FIR be quashed since even after taking the allegations made in the complaint on the face value, no offence can be stated to have been committed. Both sides have argued at length on this issue. In order to resolve this dispute, it may be useful to take note of the contents of the FIR. The original being in Bengali, the petitioner has placed translation of it on record, which reads as under:

(2.) The case put forth before me by the petitioner through his learned counsel is as under :

(3.) On the other hand, learned Additional Public Prosecutor strongly opposed the petition contending that the petitioner had exhibited a clear intention to hurt the religious feelings by making derogatory remarks about a Holy Book. Court should not interfere at a stage where investigation is yet to be completed. This is not the only occasion on which the petitioner has shown such tendency to hurt religious feelings. His post must be seen in the background of his previous posts.