2 days ago
Gujarat High Court Quashes FIR Over Buddha Images on Sarees
A trader in Surat was accused of selling sarees with pictures of Buddha near their lower edges.
The complainant said the placement was meant to disrespect Buddha and hurt people’s feelings.
The trader said he sold ordinary clothing and did not mean to insult anyone.
The Gujarat High Court looked at photographs and a police report.
It said the law requires proof that someone deliberately and maliciously meant to outrage religious feelings.
The court found no such evidence in the material before it.
It ruled that selling the sarees, by itself, did not establish the alleged crime.
So it cancelled the criminal case against the trader.
The Gujarat High Court quashed a 2017 FIR against Surat textile trader Bharatbhai Hirjibhai Shankar.
The complaint alleged that Buddha images printed near sarees’ lower borders insulted religious feelings.
The court said Section 295A requires deliberate and malicious intent to outrage religious feelings.
It found the material did not show an intentional insult and said the trader was engaged in routine commercial activity.
The complainant and state argued that photographs supported the case and the prosecution should proceed.
- Who
- The Gujarat High Court, textile trader Bharatbhai Hirjibhai Shankar, the complainant, and the state.
- What
- The court quashed an FIR alleging that sarees with Buddha images near their lower portions insulted religious feelings.
- Where
- Surat, Gujarat.
- When
- The FIR was registered on December 21, 2017; the court heard the petition on October 7.
- Why
- The court found that the material did not establish deliberate and malicious intent to outrage religious feelings, as required under Section 295A.
Trader's position and court's reasoning
Complainant and state's position
Meaning of the printed images
Trader's position and court's reasoning
The trader denied intending to hurt religious sentiments and said he sold garments as part of ordinary business. The court found no material showing deliberate and malicious intent to insult religion.
Complainant and state's position
The complainant alleged that placing Buddha images near the lower portions of garments was calculated to degrade Buddha and wound the community's religious feelings.
Whether the FIR should proceed
Trader's position and court's reasoning
The trader sought to quash the case; he also alleged that the complaint stemmed from business rivalry.
Complainant and state's position
The complainant and state said photographs supported the allegations, a preliminary case had been made out, and the court should not conduct a mini-trial at the FIR-quashing stage.
Key facts
- Court
- Gujarat High Court
- Judge
- Justice P M Raval
- Petitioner
- Textile trader Bharatbhai Hirjibhai Shankar
- FIR date
- December 21, 2017
- Incident date alleged
- December 19, 2017
- Relevant provision
- Section 295A of the Indian Penal Code
- Court's finding
- The material did not establish a prima facie case of deliberate and malicious religious insult.
Quotes
Gujarat High Court
The court’s ruling on whether the sarees’ religious imagery amounted to a criminal insult.
“Mere printing or selling of textile materials containing artistic depictions of a deity or revered icon, even if appearing on portions of a garment near the lower border or Pallu, cannot automatically be presumed to be an act driven by deliberate malice or calculated to disrupt public order. Commercial activity involving religious motifs, undertaken without any overt act, inflammatory rhetoric, or demonstrable intent to denigrate a religious belief, does not cross the threshold into a criminally”
indianexpress.com
Sources
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