Shouting ‘Jai Shri Ram’ inside mosque does not hurt religious feelings, says Karnataka High Court
Acts that do not disrupt peace or law and order would not constitute the offence of outraging religious feelings, the court said.
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The Karnataka High Court has quashed criminal proceedings against two men accused of insulting religious sentiments, stating that shouting “Jai Shri Ram” inside a mosque did not “outrage the religious feelings of any class”.
The order, quashing criminal proceedings against Keerthan Kumar and Sachin Kumar from Dakshin Kannada district, was passed by Justice M Nagaprasanna on September 13.
The police had charged the two men under sections of the Indian Penal Code pertaining to hurting religious sentiments (295A), criminal trespass and criminal intimidation based on a complaint that the persons had allegedly entered a local mosque one night in September 2023 and shouted “Jai Shri Ram”.
“Jai Shri Ram” is a Hindu religious phrase that has been adopted by Hindutva groups as a political slogan.
The High Court said that Section 295A deals with deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of “any class by insulting” its religion or religious beliefs.
“It is ununderstandable as to how if someone shouts ‘Jai Sri Ram’ it would outrage the religious feeling of any class,” the court said. “When the complainant himself states that Hindu-Muslims are living in harmony in the area, the incident by no stretch of imagination can result in antimony.”
The counsel representing the two men had argued that a mosque...
