The Madras High Court has quashed a criminal case against the State President of the Art and Culture Wing of Hindu Mannani, who was booked for allegedly insulting religious feelings (Section 295A) and promoting enmity (Section 505) IPC.

Noting that the video was meant for Hindus and not addressed to Christians, the bench of Justice R Vijayakumar observed:

"As could be seen from the charge sheet, a video has been uploaded by the petitioner in his Twitter account, wherein, a Pastor is dancing with a lady in a foreign country. There is no allegation that the video is a deepfake video. As far as the caption is concerned, the petitioner has stated that the said video depicts the original state of foreign culture and therefore, Hindus should think it over. The alleged caption is not meant for the Christians. It is addressed to the Hindus". 

The video and caption was found offensive by a Christian person who filed a complaint, which ultimately led to the registration of an FIR. 

Senior Counsel for the petitioner argued that the petitioner had uploaded the original video but had not used any obscene caption and lacked the intention to create enmity among the religious. The senior advocate argued that the ingredients of Sections 295A and 505 of the IPC were not made out. 

Opposing the petition, the Government Advocate submitted that the petitioner had been continuously uploading similar videos and was habitually attempting to create enmity between different religious groups. It was argued that the video, when viewed along with the caption, was likely to create enmity between religious communities. 

The court, after examining the materials, noted that there was no allegation that the video was a deepfake. As regards the caption, the court observed that the same was addressed to Hindus and not specifically directed at Christians. 

The court consequently held that the ingredients of the offences alleged were not attracted.

Accordingly, the quash petition was allowed. 

Case Title: V Kanal Kannan v State of Tamil Nadu, Crl. OP.(MD)No.13963 of 2025 and Crl.MP(MD) Nos.11204 & 11205 of 2025

For Petitioner: Senior Counsel Karthikeyan

For State: Government Advocate V. Shathurthi Raja

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