Liking of “obscene” post on social media is not crime, transmitting such posts is- Allahabad High Court

Case Details:

Case Name: Mohd. Imran Kazi v State of UP and another

Case No.: Application U/S 482 No. 31091 of 2023

Bench: Hon’ble Arun Kumar Singh Deshwal, J.

In a recent hearing the Hon’ble Allahabad Court quashed a case against one accused of transmitting provocative message on social media, which resulted in the assembly of about 600-700 persons belonging to Muslim community for arranging procession without permission, which caused a serious threat to breach of peace which lead to filing of Case No. 17603 of 2020.

The Court after hearing the parties and perusal of records and material on records stated that publishing, transmitting obscene material is an offence. A post or message can be said to be published when it is posted, and a post or message can be said to be transmitted when it is shared or retweeted.

In the present case, it is alleged that there is material in the case diary showing that the applicant has liked the post of one Farhan Usman for unlawful assembly, but liking a post will not amount to publishing or  transmitting the post, therefore, merely liking a post will not attract  Section 67 I.T. Act. Even otherwise, from the material on record, it appears that no message which could be provocative in nature is available on record and merely liking a message published by Chaudhari Farhan Usman will not attract penalty u/s 67 of I.T. Act or any other criminal offence, the Court said.

The Hon’ble Court relied on judgments passed by the Apex Court in Kaushal Kishor v State of U.P. and others (2023) 4 SCC 1 wherein the Apex Court stated that every citizen of India must consciously be restrained in speech and exercise the right to freedom of speech and expression under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution.

Read the judgment or order here: A482(A)_31091_2023