The Chhattisgarh

Tag: karnataka high court

  • Is Chanting ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ Hate Speech? Karnataka High Court Says THIS |

    Is chanting ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ a crime or hate speech in India? In a bizarre case, Karnataka Police had booked five men in June this year for promoting enmity by chanting ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’. However, the Karnataka High Court has now quashed the FIR saying that chanting ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ doesn’t come under hate-speech. The Karnataka High Court made the observations while quashing a first information report (FIR) registered against five men under Section 153A of Indian Penal Code (IPC).

    What Is The Case?

    The incident is related to June this year when five men were returning from an event celebrating the oath ceremony of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. They were attacked by a group of people who assaulted and stabbed them for chanting ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’. The incident took place on June 9. However, when the victims approached the Police, the Karnataka Police registered an FIR against the complainants under several provisions of the IPC, including Section 153A which penalises promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race and place of birth. The police said that the FIR was registered following a complaint made by a Muslim man who alleged that the petitioners had threatened him. Karnataka is being ruled by Siddaramaiah-led Congress government.  

    What High Court Said

    Justice M Nagaprasanna not only granted relief to the five accused but also said that not a single ingredient of Section 153A was met in the case. “In the light of the afore-narrated facts and the judgments extracted supra, permitting even investigation into the case at hand would be prima facie permitting investigation into the sloganeering of Bharath Matha Ki Jai inter alia, which can by no stretch of imagination be promoting disharmony or enmity amongst religions,” the Court said.

    Justice Nagaprasanna said that this was a case of a counterblast to the complaint that had been registered by the petitioners, reported Bar and Bench.

  • Twitter fined Rs 50 lakh for not obeying central government’s order, know the whole matter

    The Karnataka High Court on Friday rejected Twitter’s petition against the central government’s order. The Center had asked Twitter to block some accounts, tweets and URLs, which the company did not agree to. The order was challenged in court. The court said that the company’s petition has no basis. While hearing the case, Justice Krishna S. Dixit’s single bench imposed a fine of Rs 50 lakh on Twitter and directed to deposit the fine amount within 45 days. According to PTI report, Justice Dixit, while rejecting Twitter’s plea, said that he agreed with the Centre’s argument that the government has the power to block tweets and ban accounts. Between 10 different orders issued by the Central Government were challenged. Twitter had earlier claimed that the government had directed it to block 1474 Twitter accounts, 175 tweets, 256 URLs and one hashtag, but only the orders related to 39 URLs were challenged in the court. The court had reserved its decision in this case on April 21, which was pronounced today. Twitter had described the government orders as arbitrary and against freedom of expression. Despite knowing that there is a provision of 7 years imprisonment and fine for not following the Centre’s order, Twitter did not follow the orders. In its decision, the court told Twitter that you are a company worth billions of dollars, not a farmer or a common man who is not aware of the law. The Central Government Minister has also reacted to this decision. Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrashekhar has said that Twitter’s decision to challenge the government notice in court to block some accounts was actually part of the ‘fictitious story’ put forward by the company’s former CEO Jack Dorsey.

    All platforms hv to be in compliance with Indian law n @Twitter under @jack repeatedly refused to do so. In response to @GoI_MeitY ‘s notice for non-compliance they approached Karnataka High Court n judgment ✅Karnataka High Court has dismissed the petition filed by…— Rajeev Chandrasekhar (@Rajeev_GoI) June 30, 2023

    It is noteworthy that former Twitter CEO Dorsey had recently claimed that the Indian government had warned of shutting down the company in the country and raiding its employees if Twitter posts were not removed and Twitter accounts were not banned. Dorsey had claimed that the posts and accounts that were pressured to be removed were related to protests against agricultural laws and criticism of the government. The minister said that the court order makes it clear that all platforms should be banned in India. The law has to be followed.