The Allahabad High Court has observed that forwarding a WhatsApp message to multiple people, alleging that members of a particular community are being targeted, would prima facie amount to promoting enmity, hatred, and ill-will between different religious groups.
A bench of Justices J J Munir and Pramod Kumar Srivastava made the observation while refusing to quash an FIR lodged against petitioner Afaq Ahmad, who had allegedly circulated an inflammatory WhatsApp message.
Ahmad had forwarded a message to several individuals suggesting that his brother was falsely implicated in a criminal case because he belonged to a particular community. The FIR was registered under relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
Ahmad filed a writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution seeking quashing of the FIR. His counsel argued that the message merely expressed resentment over his brother’s arrest and was not intended to disturb public peace, tranquillity, or communal harmony.
The bench rejected this argument, noting that while the message did not directly mention any religion, it carried a “subtle underlying message” that the petitioner’s brother was targeted due to his religious identity.
The court observed:
“Those unsaid words would prima facie outrage the religious feelings of a class of citizens hailing from a particular community, who would think that they are being targeted because of belonging to a particular religious community.”
It further stated:
“Quite apart, and, even if one were to think that no religious feelings of a class of citizens or community have been outraged per se by the WhatsApp message, it is certainly a message, which, by its unsaid words, is likely to create or promote feelings of enmity, hatred and ill-will between religious communities, where members of a particular community in the first instance could think that they are being targeted by members of another religious community by abusing the process of law.”
In its order dated September 26, the bench held that forwarding such a message to multiple recipients alleging the targeting of members of one religious group prima facie attracts the ingredients of Section 353(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
Consequently, the court held that the petitioner was not entitled to any relief under Article 226 and dismissed the writ petition.
