She cannot be imprisoned indefinitely for a WhatsApp post that was forwarded, according to Justice Avanindra Kumar Singh.
A college lecturer who was detained on April 28 for posting something online about the Pahalgam terror attack was just granted bail by the Madhya Pradesh High Court [Dr. Nasheem Bano vs. The State of Madhya Pradesh].
Additionally, Dr. Nasheem Bano was charged with offending Hindus' religious feelings by posting a video on a WhatsApp group.
She cannot be imprisoned indefinitely for a WhatsApp post that was forwarded, according to Justice Avanindra Kumar Singh.
The Court ruled that although it is safe to assume that educated individuals and those serving as guest faculty at the college had a greater responsibility to forward WhatsApp messages, a person cannot be imprisoned indefinitely for sending videos that could offend the community's religious sentiments.
Section 196 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) (promoting enmity between different groups on the basis of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintaining harmony) and Section 299 (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) were the charges against Bano, a guest faculty member at Government Model College in Dindori.
Days after the Pahalgam incident, she had sent a WhatsApp status describing the coercion of Muslims to shout 'Jai Shri Ram' and the murder of Hindus after asking for their identities as acts of terrorism. 'Naya Rawan' was another video that she shared on a collegiate WhatsApp group.
On April 30, a trial court denied her bail. Her attorney challenged the High Court's decision to deny her bail, claiming that she is an educated woman and that no community's religious sentiments were intended to be offended.
The State objected to her bail request, claiming that she had intentionally transmitted videos and WhatsApp messages to offend the community's religious feelings.
The Court decided that it was appropriate to grant the accused bail in light of the case's facts and circumstances.
The court ordered that Dr. Nasheem Bano, the applicant, be released on bail after providing a personal bond of Rs. 50,000 (Rupees Fifty Thousand Only) and a solvent surety in the same amount to the satisfaction of the trial court in question. The bond must be for her appearance before the court on all dates that the court may set in this regard while the trial is pending.
The petitioner was represented by Senior Advocate Manish Datt and Advocate Eshaan Datt.
Ravindra Shukla, a government advocate, represented the state.
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