Chennai, August 18: The Madras High Court has rejected the anticipatory bail plea of a Coimbatore resident, R. Murugesan (48), who had been booked under the Bharathiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and the Information Technology Act, 2000, for sharing a blasphemous post about Prophet Muhammad ﷺ on Facebook. The case was initiated by the Coimbatore Police on July 20, 2024, reported The Hindustan Times.
Justice P. Dhanabal, presiding over a single bench, dismissed Murugesan’s plea, emphasizing that individuals cannot evade prosecution by claiming to have shared a message authored by someone else or by stating that they deleted the post after realizing the mistake. This stance was supported by the Tamil Nadu government pleader, Advocate S. Santhosh, who referenced Justice N. Anand Venkatesh’s 2023 judgment in a similar case involving actor S.V. Shekher. In that case, the court had ruled that social media users must be cautious and are liable for the damage caused by their posts, even if they are later deleted.
Murugesan’s anticipatory bail application had previously been rejected by the Coimbatore Principal and District Sessions Court on August 8, 2024.
This case highlights the judiciary’s firm stance on holding individuals accountable for the content they share on social media, particularly when it involves sensitive religious subjects.
