The Madhya Pradesh High Court has rejected a man's plea to quash an FIR filed against him for allegedly posting objectionable content on his Instagram account targeting Lord Ram, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, and Hinduism.

Mohammad Bilal filed a petition seeking to quash an FIR registered on August 17, 2023, against him under Sections 294, 153A, and 295A of the Indian Penal Code, along with Sections 3(1) and 3(2) of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, at a police station in Satna.

In his plea, Bilal asserted that his Instagram account had been hacked by unknown individuals two days prior to the incident, and they were responsible for uploading the offensive post.

"From the FIR it is clear that the complainant had inquired from the petitioner as to why an offensive post has been uploaded on his Instagram account. Then instead of explaining that the said post was uploaded by somebody else by hacking his account, he (petitioner) started abusing and humiliating the complainant and also hurt his religious feelings," a single bench of the High Court comprising Justice GS Ahluwalia said.

"This conduct of the petitioner indicates that the defence of uploading the offensive post on his Instagram account by somebody else is incorrect. Since uploading of an offensive post on his Instagram account has been admitted by the petitioner himself, therefore, he had no right to react in a manner in which it was done with the complainant," the HC order of last month said.

The judge stated that the accuracy of the allegations made in the FIR cannot be evaluated at this stage.

"Considering the fact that the FIR in question discloses the commission of cognizable offence, no case is made out warranting interference", the order stated.