The Bombay High Court on Thursday quashed and set aside a criminal case registered against a Thane based footwear seller under section 295 (A) of the Indian Penal Code, which refers to deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs.
A division bench of Justice V M Kanade and Justice Nutan Sardesai quashed the criminal complaint lodged against Dejul Shah, in the year 2014, by Amjad Shaikh at the Naupada Police station. Advocate Ashok Pande appearing for Shah had argued that in 2014, the complaint was registered with the Naupada police station alleging that he deliberately printed the alphabet 'M' in a manner resembling the word 'Allah' in Urdu language, if seen in reverse.
The bench observed, "The police officers who register case under the said section should be cautious while doing so and only if all ingredients are made out in the preliminary inquiry, then an offence be registered. They should not act to please any political party".
The police summoned him immediately and started investigating the matter. After a few days, Shah was given bail by the local court. After that, the police neither investigated the matter nor filed a charge sheet in the local court. Therefore, Shah approached the HC and requested to quash the FIR.
Pande further argued saying, "Shah is a small-time business man who makes shoe and sandals locally. He orders soles for his products from a Delhi-based manufacturer named A to Z footwear. He has no idea about how the printed M looks like Allah in Urdu. The sole manufacturer in Delhi belonged to the Muslim community and was also not aware of this. The police arrested the sole manufacturer but had let him off".
It was also argued that due to the case registered by the police, Shah suffered a monetary loss of Rs 1.5 lakh and humiliation for which he sought damages be paid to him.
