A Contractual Lecturer at Govt Degree College Bani, Tawseef Ahmad Bhat was booked in September 2018 for allegedly dishonouring the national anthem at a function held to celebrate the Indian Armed Forces surgical strike.
Jammu Tawi, July 11:
The Jammu and Kashmir High Court at Srinagar on Friday quashed an FIR registered against a government degree college lecturer for allegedly disrespecting the national anthem on a written complaint of the students and SDM, Bani. The High Court observed that the conduct of the petitioner may amount to showing disrespect but do not constitute a cognizable offence.
Tawseef Ahmad Bhat was working as a lecturer on contract basis at Government Degree College at Bani in Kathua district. An FIR was registered against him in September 2018 for allegedly dishonouring the national anthem at a function held to celebrate the surgical strike. The college students had in a written complaint alleging that the lecturer deliberately not participated in the function of the college instead was roaming around the place of function thus had shown disrespect to the national anthem. Students brought the matter to the notice of SDM Bani, who forwarded the same to the police.
Hearing both sides, Justice Sanjeev Kumar (Shukla) observed that from the perusal of the impugned FIR, it clearly transpires that it does not attribute any act to the petitioner that may tantamount to preventing anybody from singing the Indian national anthem, or causing any disturbance to the assembly engaged in such singing.
“Failure of the petitioner to participate in the assembly engaged in the singing of the national anthem, intentionally or otherwise, and roaming about in the school premises where the assembly was engaged in singing the the national anthem, in my opinion, would not amount to either preventing the singing of the national anthem or causing any disturbance to the assembly engaged in such singing,” he observed.
“The conduct of the petitioner, if intentional, may amount to showing disrespect to the national anthem and a breach of the fundamental duty enjoined on citizens of the country by Article 51A of the Constitution. The petitioner by losing his contractual job has already paid the price,” Justice Kumar observed, adding that this court is of the opinion that the contents of FIR do not constitute a cognizable offence and, therefore, registration of FIR and setting the investigating machinery in motion was not called for.
