The Supreme Court (SC) has refused to quash a criminal case against a law graduate for making a social media post saying Babri Masjid will be rebuilt one day.
A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi said it has seen the post and does not want to interfere with the criminal proceeding against petitioner Mohd Faiyyaz Mansuri.
Advocate Talha Abdul Rehman, appearing for the petitioner Mohd. Faiyyaz Mansuri contended that there was no vulgarity in the post and said only said Babri Masjid will be rebuilt like a mosque in Turkey. He contended that it was another person who made the inflammatory post, but he was not investigated. Justice Kant told the counsel, “Don’t invite any harsh comment from us.”
Sensing the mood of the court, the counsel sought to withdraw the plea which the court allowed him to do so.
“After arguing the case for some time, counsel for the petitioner seeks and is permitted to withdraw this petition. The Special Leave Petition is, accordingly, dismissed as withdrawn. It goes without saying that all the defence plea that may be raised by the petitioner shall be considered by the trial court as per their own merit,” the bench ordered on Monday.
Mansuri had challenged the order of the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court refusing to quash the criminal case lodged against him. He was booked in August 2020 for making a post in which one other person made some disparaging remarks against the gods of the Hindu community. Taking note of the post, the District Magistrate of Lakhimpur Kheri ordered his detention. The detention order was subsequently set aside by the Allahabad High Court. However, earlier this year, the trial court took cognisance of the charge sheet filed against him.
Mansuri again moved the High Court for quashing of the criminal proceeding against him, but the High Court refused to quash it. Aggrieved by the order, he approached the Supreme Court.
When the matter was taken up in the Supreme Court, the petitioner’s counsel began by asserting that there was no vulgarity in his post and that the objectionable language came from another user. “My post doesn’t have any vulgarity. The vulgarity is there in some other person’s post,” he said.
Justice Surya Kant, however, made it clear that the Court did not wish to make any comments on the post itself. “Please don’t invite any comment from us,” he said.
The counsel urged the bench to look at the post once before deciding the matter. This led to a brief back-and-forth exchange between him and the Court. “See my post at least,” the petitioner’s lawyer said. “We have seen your post,” Justice Kant replied.
“My lords have not seen it,” the lawyer said. “We have seen it. We have read it many times,” Justice Kant maintained.
The judge also cautioned the lawyer against questioning the Court’s assertion. In the end, the Court allowed the withdrawal of the plea.
