Raising Concerns About Illegal Migrants, Religious Fundamentalism By Itself Not An Attempt To Create Enmity: Gauhati High Court Grants Relief To Journalist

The Petitioner, stated to be a journalist, sought to invoke the provisions of Section 482 of CrPC for quashing of an FIR registered under Section 153(A), 34 of the IPC.

The Single Bench of Justice Pranjal Das stated, “Needless to say that it is the core duty of journalism to raise burning issues, which matter to society. Raising concerns about illegal migrants, religious fundamentalism, militant activities and demographic threats to the indigenous people cannot, by itself, be construed as an attempt to create enmity between groups or to incite violence.”

Advocate A Neog represented the Petitioner while Public Prosecutor represented the Respondent.

Factual Background

The ejahar was lodged on the basis of an original newspaper publication dated November 8, 2016 in the newspaper “Dainik Janambhumi”, along with its English translation. The newspaper item was stated to be a journalistic report made by the petitioner accused after ground research and pursuant to publication of the same; the ejahar in question came to be filed by the respondent- President of All Assam Muslim Students Union AAMSU (Sivasagar).The respondent was aggrieved by the said report and sought the prosecution of the petitioner on the allegation that, by this report, the petitioner was creating disharmony between communities in an area known for its social harmony and was attempting to disturb the communal peace and harmony among different demographic groups.

Reasoning

Throwing light on the interpretation of Section 153A of the IPC, the Bench explained that for a successful prosecution or initiation of prosecution under Section 153A of IPC, there must be involvement of two communities and there must be mens rea on the part of the accused to create enmity between different groups, which may be defined by religion, language, caste, race etc. There must also be an intention to incite people to violence based on such enmity created between the groups.

Coming to the facts of the case, the Bench noted that the newspaper report was a kind of write-up based on journalistic research and highlighting an issue of religious fundamentalism in the concerned area; demographic threat posed by illegal migrants from a neighboring country and also some militant activities associated with such fundamentalism.

As per the Bench, the write-up, prima facie, was a result of ground research, whereby the journalist was highlighting some concerns about religious fundamentalism; the influx of illegal migrants and also of certain militant activities carried out by fundamentalist groups.

“Upon perusal of these materials and keeping in mind the core principles laid down by the Hon’ble Supreme Court regarding the essential ingredients of Section 153A of IPC – I am of the considered view that the ejahar does not meet the criteria laid down by the aforementioned case laws and that it cannot be said that the petitioner, as the accused, intended to create enmity or incite violence between different population groups with the requisite mens rea”, it said.

Upon examining the newspaper report that gave rise to the allegations in the ejahar, the Bench found that prima facie, the petitioner, accused as a journalist, had not cast aspersions on any ethnic or religious group per se. Thus, allowing the criminal Petition, the Bench quashed the proceedings against the Petitioner.

Cause Title: Kongkon Borthakur v. The State Of Assam (Neutral Citation: 2025:GAU-AS:10817)

Appearance

Petitioner: Advocates A Neog, K Goswami,P K Goswami,J Gogoi

Respondent: Public Prosecutor Assam

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