New Delhi. The Supreme Court, while hearing a petition, said that it is indecent to call someone a mian-tiyan or Pakistani, but the person who says so cannot be prosecuted. Justice B. A bench of V. Nagratna and Justice Satish Chandra Sharma said that it cannot be called a crime hurting religious sentiments under Section 298 of the Indian Penal Code. The apex court reversed the order of the Jharkhand High Court and gave relief to a person named Hari Nandan Singh and ruled to free the charge. The bench said that the remarks made by the accused were unfair but were not made malicious against any particular religion.
In 2020, this FIR was lodged at Sector 4 police station of Bokaro. The case was filed by a person working in the post of Urdu Translator in Sub Divisional Office. In this, he had alleged that he had gone to give documents related to RTI application to Hari Nandan Singh on the orders of the Additional Collector. During this, Hari Nandan Singh used words like Mian-Tian, calling him Pakistani. This hurt his religious sentiments and lodged an FIR. The sessions court refused to give relief to the accused Hari Nandan Singh.
After this, Hari Nandan Singh filed a petition in the High Court but the High Court also considered him an accused. Then the petitioner approached the Supreme Court. The apex court, while hearing the petition of Hari Nandan Singh, gave him relief. Canceling the case registered under sections 353 and 504 on the accused, the court said that no evidence of any kind of violence with the government employee and Section 504 did not apply as the comments of the accused did not disturb peace.
