How is shouting 'Jai Sri Ram' inside mosque an offence: Supreme Court seeks Karnataka police's stand

The matter has been posted for January 2025. A bench of Justices Pankaj Mithal and Sandeep Mehta was hearing the matter.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to examine a petition questioning the correctness of the Karnataka High Court's order of September 13, 2024 which quashed an FIR lodged against two men for raising 'Jai Sri Ram' slogan in mosque premises.

A bench of Justices Pankaj Mithal and Sandeep Mehta, however, said the court would not issue a notice on the petition filed by complainant Haydhar Ali CM.

The court told senior advocate Devadatt Kamat to serve the petition to the state counsel, as it fixed the matter for hearing in January 2025.

Kamat said the High Court had interdicted the investigation within 20 days of the FIR being launched.

"The accused were shouting religious prayer, is that an offence? The High Court says it does not touches the ingredients of the offences," the bench said.

Kamat, on his part, submitted that it is an offence under Section 153A of the IPC. He claimed the hooligans went to other place of worship and shouted slogans. The question was if this kind of thing is permitted, he said.

The court also enquired who filed the complaint and how the accused were identified. It was said that the accused were seen on CCTV, if the accused were found around, does it mean they were involved, the bench further asked.

In the order on September 13, 2024, the High Court's single-judge bench of Justice M Nagaprasanna had said, "it is ununderstandable as to how if someone shouts 'Jai Sri Ram' it would outrage the religious feeling of any class, when the complainant himself states that Hindu - Muslims are living in harmony in the area".

The High Court had then quashed the FIR lodged against Keerthan Kumar and Sachin Kumar N M as well as the criminal proceedings on a complaint filed by Haydhar Ali C M on September 25, 2023, with Kadaba police station in Dakshina Kannada district.

In a special leave petition, the complainant contended that the High Court has completely ignored the dictum laid down by this court in the several cases against impeding the investigation at its inception.

"The entire investigation has been stultified since the issuance of notice on November 29, 2023, when the High Court stayed the criminal proceedings in the matter," the plea said.

The observation of the High Court that shouting 'Jai Sri Ram' will not outrage the religious feelings of any class and the incident by no stretch of imagination can result in acrimony, itself shows that the occurrence of the incident cannot be denied, at least at this stage, the plea said.

The petition stated that it is also well settled that inherent powers of the High Court are not meant to be exercised to stifle legitimate prosecution.

The present case is not one of those rarest of the rare cases where prosecution is required to be scuttled at the very inception itself, it said.

The fact that the incident has taken place within the mosque premises, coupled with the threat given to the lives of Muslims, shows that the investigation ought not have been impeded, as has been done by the High Court in the present case since the crux of the allegations does show the commission of cognisable offences which require investigation, all of which is legitimate prosecution, the plea said.