Today, the Supreme Court upheld the decision to dismiss the Punjab government's challenge regarding the quashing of an FIR against Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh. This FIR was related to allegations of insulting the religious beliefs of Sant Kabir Das and Guru Ravidas' devotees.

In passing their order, the bench comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta remarked that the petition lacked significant merit. Despite a request from the appearing counsel for time to submit additional documents, the Court declined, citing a prior adjournment.

"There is no merit in the Special Leave Petition, the same is dismissed."

Case Brief:

In 2023, an FIR was filed against Ram Rahim under Section 295A IPC for remarks made during a 2016 "Satsang," where he purportedly linked Sant Kabir Das and Guru Ravidas with liquor bottles and a prostitute.

Ram Rahim sought the quashing of the FIR by approaching the Punjab and Haryana High Court. He argued that the essential elements required to constitute an offense under Section 295A, namely the intent to outrage religious feelings and a deliberate malicious intent to insult the religious beliefs of a particular community, were lacking.

Upon reviewing the historical references of Ram Rahim's discourse, the High Court concluded that there was no evidence of distortion or misrepresentation within the incident relating to the life of Sant Kabir Das. Additionally, the High Court observed that while lodging the FIR, the complainant selectively extracted disconnected segments of the discourse and presented them without proper context.