In the ongoing matter of Deepika Singh Rajawat v Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir & ors (CRM[M] No. 405 of 2020), the Jammu and Kashmir High Court on November 25, refused to interfere in the investigation pertaining to an FIR registered against Advocate Deepika Singh Rajawat for her tweet on Navratri.
Justice Sanjay Dhar directed that the investigation in the FIR may continue but the final report shall not be filed by the investigating agency before the competent court without permission of the High court.
He observed, “At this stage, it may not be appropriate to go into the merits of the rival contentions of the parties and it will also be not proper to interfere in the investigation of the FIR, which is stated to be at its infancy.”
Advocate Rajawat has already been protected by way of an anticipatory bail granted by Principal Sessions Judge, Jammu in October, 2020.
Background
Rajawat challenged FIR No.174/2020 registered against her for offences under Section 295-A (deliberately outraging the religious sentiments of a class) and 505[2] (promoting hatred enmity between groups) of the Indian Penal Code registered at Police Station, Gandhi Nagar, Jammu.
The FIR was registered based on complaint that Rajawat had tweeted a picture from her official Twitter account showing an image of a woman being revered during the time of Navratri and being sexually assaulted during rest of the year with a caption ‘irony’.
Rajawat had stated that she posted the said tweet “with an objective to raise voice against increasing rape cases in India and condemn people who bring atrocities on Women”. She therefore, sought a stay on investigation during the pendency of the present petition for quashing the FIR.
The Senior Counsel P.N Raina who appeared for her contended that if, “we have a look at the image that was tweeted by the petitioner, it does not, in any manner, hurt the religious feeling of any community, inasmuch as it simply depicts that the women are being revered during Navratri festival, whereas similar treatment is not given to them during rest of the days of the year.”
But the Additional Advocate General (AAG), representing the government, pointed out that after Rajawat put out the controversial tweet, a particular outfit felt agitated and held a demonstration in front of her house and she had to seek police protection.
On October 21, SabrangIndia had reported on how the Hindutva mob assembled outside her residence and raised slogans against her as they were allegedly offended by her online activity.
The J&K High Court has directed the State to file their response/status reports and the next hearing is slated to be heard on February 9, 2021.
The order may be read here:
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