The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has quashed an FIR registered against a man from Kanniyakumari district for posting certain remarks on social media on the death of Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat.
The court was hearing the petition filed by G. Sivarajaboopathi of Nagercoil. The cyber crime police, Nagercoil, registered a case against the petitioner and another person based on a complaint lodged by Dharmaraj.
The complainant stated that while the country was mourning the loss of General Bipin Rawat in a helicopter crash in The Nilgiris, certain people were posting messages on social media to promote enmity between groups with an intent to provoke breach of peace.
The petitioner said that he had commented on Facebook stating that it was a shame to shed tears for “Dictator Bipin Rawat, a mercenary of fascists”. He said that he posted the comment in criticism of a statement made by General Bipin Rawat in an interview to a magazine.
In the interview, General Bipin Rawat said, “As enemies are afraid of us, people must also be afraid on seeing us”. The social media post was in criticism of this statement. He was disturbed by the statement made by General Bipin Rawat, the petitioner said.
The petitioner said he did not intend to promote enmity between groups and provoke breach of peace and sought the quash of the FIR. He was granted anticipatory bail by the Principal District and Sessions Judge, Kanniyakumari.
Justice G.R. Swaminathan observed that no doubt the message posted by the petitioner was in bad taste and lacks fundamental civility. But, the comment did not amount to provocation, the judge said and quashed the FIR.
