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The Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that calling someone ‘Miyan-Tiyan’ or ‘Pakistani’ may be in poor taste but does not amount to an offence of hurting religious sentiments. A bench of Justices BV Nagarathna and Satish Chandra Sharma made the observation while closing a case against a man accused of calling a government servant ‘Pakistani’.

The complaint was filed by an Urdu translator and an acting clerk in Jharkhand. According to the complainant, when he visited the accused to furnish information about a Right To Information (RTI) application, the latter abused him by referring to his religion and used criminal force to prevent the discharge of his official duties.

This led to a first information report against the man for offences under Sections 298 (hurting religious sentiments), 504 (insult with intent to provoke breach of peace), and 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharging duty) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Turning down an order by the Jharkhand High Court, the top court said, “The appellant is accused of hurting the religious feelings of the informant by calling him ‘Miyan-Tiyan’ and ‘Pakistani’. Undoubtedly, the statements made are in poor taste. However, it does not amount to hurting the religious sentiments of the informant,” the bench said.

According to the top court, there was no act on the accused’s part that could have provoked a breach of peace.

“Evidently, there was no assault or use of force by the appellant to attract Section 353 IPC (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharging duty),” it said.