The Madhya Pradesh High Court granted bail to a Muslim lecturer who was arrested following an ABVP campaign over a post she shared after the Pahalgam attack, observing that a person cannot be kept in jail indefinitely merely for forwarding messages and videos that may offend religious sentiments.
“Prima facie, at the outset, it can very safely be said that educated persons and persons who are holding the post of Guest Faculty in the college have greater responsibility when forwarding WhatsApp messages, but simply on the ground of forwarding messages or videos which may hurt the religious sentiments of a community, a person cannot be indefinitely kept in jail. The present applicant is in jail since 28.04.2025,” said Justice Avanindra Kumar Singh.
The applicant sought regular bail for offences under Sections 196 (promoting enmity between groups on religious or other grounds), 299 (acts intended to outrage religious feelings), and 353(2) (statements conducing to public mischief) of the BNS, 2023, after the Trial Court had earlier rejected her bail plea.
As per the prosecution, complainant Deependra Jogi filed a report against the applicant, Dr. Nasheem Bano, a guest faculty at Government Model College, Dindori, alleging she circulated posts in a WhatsApp group intended to outrage the religious feelings of another community and shared a video titled “Naya Ravan.”
Meanwhile, the applicant’s counsel argued that she is an educated woman who had no intention of hurting religious sentiments and should be granted bail.
On the other hand, the Government Advocate argued that the applicant had deliberately forwarded WhatsApp messages and a video to hurt the religious sentiments of the community.
But the Court granted bail, observing that merely circulating such content cannot justify keeping a person in jail indefinitely.
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