Gurpreet Singh v. State of Punjab
In the High Court of Punjab & Haryana
CRM-M (O&M) 17086/2021
Before Justice Anupinder Singh Grewal
Decided on October 28, 2021

Relevancy of the Case: Anticipatory bail application in a case involving the circulation of a video showing taking off the turban of an elderly person, beating, and abusing him

Statutes and Provisions Involved

• The Information Technology Act, 2000 (Section 66E)
• The Indian Penal Code, 1860 (Section 323, 341, 506, 148, 295A, 149)

Relevant Facts of the Case

• A video is uploaded on Facebook of an elderly person aged 65 years in which his turban is taken off and is repeatedly beaten up and abused.
• The petitioner and other accused persons recorded a video of this incident. As seen in the video, the elderly person was bleeding. Later, the accused persons (including the petitioner) uploaded the video to Facebook.
• The petitioner has filed this anticipatory bail application under Section 295A. The petitioner submits that there is no prima facie evidence. Moreover, there is a delay of one year and five months in filing the FIR.

Opinion of the Bench

• The bench noted that the turban is an important religious symbol. Recording a video of an elderly person in an injured condition without the turban and uploading it for the public on social media platforms would amount to hurting religious feelings.

Final Decision

• The court rejected the anticipatory bail.

T S V S Nivedita, a postgraduate student at O.P. Jindal University, prepared this case summary during her association with The Cyber Blog India in January 2022.