Name Of Prime Minister Used In Disrespectful Manner: Allahabad High Court Refuses To Quash FIR Against Singer Neha Singh Rathore
The Petitioner had approached the Allahabad High Court seeking issuance of a direction to quash the impugned First Information Report lodged against her.
Justice Syed Qamar Hasan Rizvi, Justice Rajesh Singh Chauhan, Allahabad High Court (Lucknow Bench)
The Allahabad High Court has refused to quash the FIR registered against singer and activist Neha Singh Rathore for her derogatory and disrespectful posts against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as well as her social media posts on Bihar elections and Hindu-Muslim political angle.
The Petiitoner had approached the High Court seeking issuance of a direction to quash the impugned First Information Report lodged by the opposite party under Sections 196(1)(a), 196(1)(b), 197(1)(a), 197(1)(b), 197(1)(c), 197(1)(d), 353(1)(c), 353(2), 302, 152 of BNS, 2023 and 69a of the IT Act, 2008.
The Division Bench of Justice Syed Qamar Hasan Rizvi and Justice Rajesh Singh Chauhan stated, “The case diary as placed before us shows that there are so many tweets but some of them have been reproduced in this order that goes to show that the posts written by the petitioner are against the Prime Minister of India and Home Minister of India. Name of the Prime Minister of India has been used in a derogatory and disrespectful manner. In such comments, the petitioner has used religious angle, Bihar election angle accusing the Prime Minister by name and saying that the B.J.P. Government is sacrificing the life of thousands of soldiers for its vested interest pushing the country in a war with a neighbouring country.”
Advocate Kaustubh Singh represented the Petitioner, while Government Advocate represented the Respondent.
Factual Background
It was alleged that in her tweets, the petitioner, a singer and social activist, commented on the State politics of Bihar, which was suggestive of the fact that she had ulterior motives and extraneous designs in mind. She commended that the B.J.P. is willing to start a war and is willing to sacrifice thousands of Army Soldiers. It was also alleged that she tried to create the Hindu-Muslim angle.
Reasoning
The Bench explained that Article 19 of the Constitution gives all citizens the right to freedom of speech and expression but subject to reasonable restrictions for preserving public order, decency or morality. “It is trite in law that the extent of protection of speech and expression would depend on whether, such speech and expression would constitute a propagation of ideas or would have any social value. If the answer to the said question is in affirmative, such speech would be protected under Article 19 (1) (a); if the answer is in negative, such speech and expression would not be protected under Article 19 (1) (a) of the Constitution of India”, it added.
On a perusal of the allegations of the FIR and the relevant portion of the case diary, the Bench was convinced that the allegations in the First Information Report and other material, prima facie, disclosed a cognizable offence, justifying an investigation by the police officers. “The law is trite on the point as stated above that the fundamental right under Article 19(1)(a) is not an absolute right but the aforesaid right shall be considered subject to the reasonable restrictions in the light of Article 19(2) of the Constitution of India”, it held.
The Bench dismissed the Petition and refrained from commenting on the merits of the issues since the investigation is going on. “The petitioner is directed to participate in the investigation, which is pending pursuant to the impugned FIR, and she shall appear before the Investigating Officer on 26.09.2025 at 11.00 a.m. sharp to cooperate in the investigation and shall further cooperate in the investigation till filing of police report”, it concluded.
Cause Title:Neha Singh Rathore @ Neha Kumari v. State Of U.P. (Neutral Citation: 2025:AHC-LKO:58087-DB)