HC turns down Agnivesh plea to quash FIR

Chandigarh:   The Punjab and Haryana High Court has turned down a plea of social activist Swami Agnivesh seeking to quash an FIR filed against him for allegedly hurting sentiments of Hindus.

Justice L N Mittal on Wednesday held that “averments made in the FIR regarding utterances attributed to the petitioner do prima facie make out a case under Section 295-A, IPC,because such utterances certainly hurt the religious feelings of Hindus, who undertake the holy Amarnath yatra”.

Earlier this year, various Hindu organisations had castigated Agnivesh for his “blasphemous” remarks on the Amarnath yatra in Kashmir.

A case, under Section 295A of the IPC, was registered against Agnivesh on 23 May in Hansi sub-division of Haryana after a complaint was lodged by social activist Praveen Tayal.
Section 295-A deals with deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings by insulting religion or religious beliefs.

On Monday, the Hansi sub-divisional magistrate court had issued a non-bailable warrant against Agnivesh and directed that he be produced before it on 19 September.