The Gujarat High Court has held that mere printing or selling of saree, textile materials containing artistic depictions of a deity or revered icon, even if appearing on lower border/Pallu of the garment, cannot automatically be presumed to be an act driven by deliberate malice or calculated to disrupt public order and outrage religious feelings. [2026 LiveLaw (Guj) 275]

The court was hearing a saree trader's plea booked under Sections 295A (Deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) r/w. 114 IPC, for allegedly outraging religious sentiments by selling Sarees, garments having printed impressions of Lord Gautam Buddha situated at the lower portion/pallu of the Saree, garment. 

Justice PM Raval in his order observed that Section 295A IPC does not contemplate that "each and every act" is to be penalised and every act of insult to or attempt to insult the religion or the religious beliefs of a class of citizens.

The section, the court said, penalises only those acts of insults to or those varieties of attempts to insult the religion or the religious beliefs of a class of citizens, which are perpetrated with the deliberate and malicious intention of outraging the religious feelings of that class. Insults to religion offered carelessly or without any deliberate or malicious intention of outraging the religious feelings of that class do not come within the section, the court said. 

The court said that when an insult to a religion is without any deliberate or malicious intention of outraging the religion feelings then it would not fall within the purview of the section.

"From a perusal of the photographs on record...it appears that the applicant, allegedly, got printed the Saree and other cloth (material) with image of God and Gautam Buddha face, which covers the lower portion of the garment (the feet/border/pallu area) and thus, committed the offence as alleged...there appears nothing so as to suggest insult or attempts to insult the religion or the religious beliefs of a particular class, that too, deliberate and malicious, intending to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs, so as to attract the provisions of Section 295A IPC," the court held. 

Referring to Punjab and Haryana High Court's decision in Maninder Singh and Another v. State of Punjab and Another the court said that the applicant is a commercial merchant engaged in the routine business of trading Sarees and dress materials based on prevailing market trends and designs.

"Mere printing or selling of textile materials containing artistic depictions of a deity or revered icon, even if appearing on portions of a garment near the lower border or Pallu, cannot automatically be presumed to be an act driven by deliberate malice or calculated to disrupt public order.

Commercial activity involving religious motifs, undertaken without any overt act, inflammatory rhetoric, or demonstrable intent to denigrate a religious belief, does not cross the threshold into a criminally punishable insult under Section 295A. To hold otherwise would expand the criminal statute beyond its intended constitutional parameters and penalize commercial practices absent any criminal mens rea. Thus, the uncontroverted facts set out in the FIR, even when taken at face value, fail to establish a prima facie case of an aggravated insult to religion against the present applicant," the court said. 

As per the facts, the de facto complainant was serving as the President of the Samast Yuva Ambedkar Samaj, when three members of the Ambedkar Community, visited him and informed that Sarees and Textile material bearing printed images of Lord Gautam Buddha, were being offered for sale at several premises in the Textile Market and other shops.

Being community representatives, they inspected the said shops and verified that Sarees and other Textile fabrics bearing printed impressions of Lord Gautam Buddha were indeed being sold. The images of Lord Gautam Buddha were positioned such that they fall toward the lower portion of the garmnet (the feet/border/pallu area). This act it was alleged, was calculated to degrade the deity and intentionally wounded the religious feelings and sentiments of their community. 

Applicant said he is a reputed businessman of Surat and dealing in Sarees and dress material under the name of Shivam Textiles. He procures goods from some manufacturers as per the latest trending designs and sells it in the market as per requirement. There were no objectionable prints/material being sold by the applicant and that, the prints were not of the God as alleged by the complainant.

Meanwhile the Additional Public Prosecutor said that from the photographs annexed with the application themselves it was evident that the allegations levelled in the  FIR are correct and a strong prima facie case is made out against the present applicant.

The court thus quashed the FIR.