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Hari Nandan Singh v. The State of Jharkhand

Criminal Appeal · 2025 INSC 305Decided 11 Feb 2025
Criminal Appeal (arising out of SLP (Crl.) No. 452 of 2024)
Mrs. Justice B.V. Nagarathna · Justice Satish Chandra Sharma

Background

An RTI applicant (the appellant) allegedly refused to accept RTI documents personally delivered to his home by a government clerk, then used insulting religious remarks and abusive language against the clerk before eventually accepting the papers. A criminal case followed under Sections 353 (assault/force on a public servant), 298 (wounding religious feelings), and 504 (intentional insult) IPC, and the appellant's applications to be discharged were rejected by the Magistrate, the Sessions Court, and the Jharkhand High Court in succession.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court re-examined the actual text of the FIR and complaint and found that none of the three offences were made out even on the complainant's own version: there was no assault or use of force (ruling out Section 353), the remarks, though in poor taste, did not amount to wounding religious sentiments (ruling out Section 298), and there was no act capable of provoking a breach of the peace (ruling out Section 504). Applying the settled principles on discharge from Sajjan Kumar v. CBI, the Court held that continuing the prosecution against an 80-year-old appellant on these facts was unwarranted, set aside the High Court's order, and discharged him of all three charges.

Lesson Learnt

A criminal case cannot proceed to trial merely because an FIR uses the language of an offence. Courts must check whether the facts alleged, even if fully believed, actually satisfy every legal ingredient of the charged offence before forcing someone to stand trial.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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