The Allahabad High Court has held that forwarding a WhatsApp message suggesting members of a particular religious community are being unfairly targeted may, on a prima facie reading, constitute the offence of promoting enmity under Section 353(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
A bench of Justices J.J. Munir and Pramod Kumar Srivastava declined to quash an FIR lodged against the petitioner, Afaq Ahmad, who allegedly forwarded a message to multiple persons implying that his brother’s arrest was due to his religious identity. The petitioner argued that the message only expressed resentment over the arrest, without any intent to disturb communal harmony or public peace.
The Court observed that even though the message did not explicitly mention religion, its underlying suggestion—that a person was being targeted because of their community—could outrange religious feelings of members of that community. The bench stated that such indirect wording “by its unsaid words” may stoke feelings of ill will or hatred.
“Sending such a message to multiple persons, alleging targeting of members of one religious group, prima facie attracts the ingredients of Section 353(2) BNS, if not Section 353(3) BNS,” the Court held.
On that basis, the Court refused to interfere with the investigation under Article 226 and declined the petitioner’s plea to quash the FIR.
