Mere shouting cannot destroy peace, nation’s harmony is not so fragile: Delhi HC

The nation’s harmony is not so fragile that mere shouting or an exhibition can destroy its peace, the Delhi high court said on Tuesday while granting human rights activist Nadeem Khan interim protection from arrest till Friday in a case registered by the Delhi Police over a speech he allegedly delivered during an exhibition in Hyderabad in mid-November.
The Delhi Police had booked Khan under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), including promoting enmity between groups, criminal conspiracy, and public mischief, after a video of him titled ‘Records of Hindustan in Modi Sarkar’ went viral on social media.
According to the FIR filed against Khan, the complainant, a sub inspector (SI) of Delhi Police, reportedly received “secret information” regarding a video uploaded on social media that was causing anger among local people and could have potentially led to violence.
The police said the stall was set up by the Association for Protection of Civil Rights (ACPR) and that the person speaking in the video was Khan.
A bench of justice Jasmeet Singh directed Khan, the national secretary of ACPR, to cooperate with the investigation and not leave the city without informing the Investigating Officer.
“Please understand, we are in a democratic country. The harmony of our nation is not so fragile. It is not so fragile that merely one exhibition, merely someone shouting, it cannot be. Consider people as intelligent… You repose very little faith in the common man. The common man is intelligent. The common man isn’t so fragile that merely one exhibition will…,” the HC bench said to standing counsel Sanjay Lao, representing Delhi Police.
The bench added, “In the present FIR, the material which has formed the basis of the opinion of the complainant has not been placed before me and will be placed along with the reply proposed to be filed by the respondent, along with the material collected up to date. For the said reasons and till the next date of hearing, the petitioner shall not be arrested in the FIR.”
The HC also asked Delhi Police to respond to Khan’s plea, seeking quashing of the FIR, along with the material collected up to date. The court will hear the matter again on December 6.
ACPR told the court that a Delhi Police team attempted to detain Khan on November 30 without a warrant. A senior officer, however, denied any attempt to detain Khan and said that the team only went to serve him notice to join an investigation.
In their plea, Khan and APCR claimed that the FIR did not include any offence punishable with more than three years of imprisonment. The plea also sought for a stay on the probe and protection from coercive action on the ground that the FIR, which was registered on an alleged secret information relating to uploading of a video on social media that might cause unrest, did not disclose the commission of offence by him. It went on to add that Khan had neither shared the video nor uploaded the same.
“At no point does the petition make any false statement which could incite disharmony and indeed it is evident from the video that disharmony is not the main aim of the exhibit. The exhibit as well as the petitioner’s part in the video at best constitute social commentary and are protected as free speech under article 19 of the Constitution of India,” the plea added.
During the hearing on Tuesday, Khan and APCR, represented by senior advocate Kapil Sibal, submitted that the complainant had already come to a finding that the exhibition was causing violence, promoting enmity in public and violence. However, allegations in the FIR were mere conjectures, not based on foundational facts and did not disclose any cognisable offence.
Lao contended that the cops had sufficient material to indicate that Khan through his speech in the video was inciting violence and trying to destroy the country’s peace.
In a statement issued later, APCR condemned the “unwarranted harassment and attempt to arrest” Khan and the raid.
“The FIR filed by the Delhi Police is based on a social media post that has used a video of Nadeem Khan speaking at an exhibition put up by APCR. The video itself does not show any unlawful speech or activity, and we categorically deny any suggestion that the exhibition contained any kind of illegality. In fact, the exhibition was an attempt to showcase the positive rulings and orders of the Supreme Court and other courts in India that have sought to curb hate crimes and persecution of marginalised groups in the country,” APCR said in its statement.