Chhattisgarh High Court Grants Bail To Man Accused Of Sharing Nupur Sharma's Comments On Prophet Muhammad On FB

The Chhattisgarh High Court last week granted bail to Nagendra Patel who has been accused of sharing allegedly provocative comments made by former Spokesperson of the BJP, Nupur Sharma on Facebook against Prophet Muhammad.

The bench of Justice Rajani Dubey ordered Patel's release on bail on his executing a personal bond in the sum of Rs. 25,000/- with one local surety in the like sum to the satisfaction of the trial Court.

As per the FIR, accessed by Live Law, the allegations against Patel is that he made an indecent comment against Prophet Muhammad and the religion of Islam on Facebook that hurt the sentiments of the entire Muslim community.

The FIR had been lodged under Sections 295-A, 504, 505 of the IPC and Section 67 of the I.T. Act at the instance of one Shafique Ahmed who alleged that due to the comment made by Patel, a situation of resentment had arisen among the entire Muslim society.

In the FIR dated June 10, 2022, Ahmed had also stated that Patel should be arrested immediately and that appropriate action should be taken against him, otherwise, an agitation shall be organized by the Muslim community.

Pursuant to the lodging of the FIR, Patel was arrested on June 10, 2022. Therefore, he moved to the High Court submitting that he had just posted the forwarded messages on his Facebook account and that the content of the post was not his personal view or opinion, and rather, the same was the view of some other person (Nupur Sharma).

Therefore, the applicant argued before the Court that there was no intention of the applicant to outrage the religious belief of anyone. It was further submitted that the offence is triable by Judicial Magistrate and he is in jail since 10.06.2022, and there is no likelihood of their case being decided in near future, therefore, the present bail application may be released on bail.

It may be noted that during a channel debate on the Gyanvapi Masjid issue in Times Now on May 27, Sharma made alleged derogatory remarks against Prophet Muhammed. Several FIRs have been registered against her thereafter.

Case title - Nagendra Patel v. State of Chhattisgarh [MCRC No. 5727 of 2022]

Citation: 2022 LiveLaw (Chh) 54

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