Overview
- The Madhya Pradesh High Court set aside the police case against government teacher Faizan Ansari, with Justice B P Sharma finding no basis to prosecute him for his WhatsApp status.
- The FIR was filed under Section 353(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, a clause used for spreading false or alarming content intended to stir hatred between groups.
- The judge said there was no evidence that Ansari intended to promote hatred or incite violence, and the case file showed no actual disturbance of public order.
- The court described the recited nazm, ‘Be-haya’ by Shoaib Kiani, as satire on abuses against women rather than a communal message, noting it has been widely shared and praised on social and literary platforms such as Rekhta.
- Ansari’s post was a video of the poem without added commentary, after which police summoned him, seized his phone, and registered the case following complaints about potential communal harm.