PRAYAGRAJ: Allahabad high court has observed that merely expressing support for Pakistan without referencing any specific incident or mentioning India does not prima facie constitute an offence under Section 152 (act endangering sovereignty or unity and integrity of India) of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).Allowing the bail plea of Riyaz, accused of pledging support to Pakistan in an Instagram post, Justice Arun Kumar Singh Deshwal said a perusal of record showed “the applicant has not mentioned anything which shows disrespect towards our country”. “Merely posting a message to…show support for any country may create anger or disharmony among citizens of India”, and may be punishable under Sec 196 of BNS (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language etc), but “definitively will not attract” Sec 152, the HC said in its July 10 order.Judge seeks ‘reasonable care’ while invoking BNS’ stringent Sec 152 Sec 196 of BNS provides for up to seven years in jail, while an offence under Sec 152 is non-bailable and carries a life sentence or imprisonment up to seven years and fine. The judge called for exercising “reasonable care” while invoking Sec 152 of BNS, saying it was a new provision stipulating stringent punishment, which had no equivalence in IPC.“For attracting ingredients of Sec 152, there must be purpose by spoken or written words, signs, visible representations, electronic communication to promote secession, armed rebellion, subversive activities or encourages feeling of separating activities or endangers the sovereignty, unity and integrity of India,” HC said.“Merely posting a message to show support for any country may create anger or disharmony among citizens of India”, and may be punishable under Sec 196 of BNS (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language etc), which provides for up to seven years jail, but “definitively will not attract ingredients of Sec 152, BNS”, HC said in its order July 10.Justice Deshwal said spoken words or posts on social media are also covered under the right to freedom of speech and expression, and should not be narrowly interpreted, unless they are of such nature which threaten the country’s sovereignty and integrity or encourages separatism.During the hearing, the applicant submitted through his counsel that his social media post did not lower the dignity and sovereignty of the country. Neither was India named, nor the Indian flag or any photo was posted which showed disrespect to the country, he argued. “Merely supporting a country, even if that country is an enemy to India, does not attract the ingredients of BNS Sec 152,” the applicant’s counsel said.State opposed the bail plea, submitting that such posts encourages separatism. HC, granting bail, directed applicant not to post any material on social media which could create disharmony among people.
