Holding

Both articles were held to promote enmity between Hindu and Muslim communities, and the convictions under Section 153A were upheld.

Summary

The appellant, editor of the magazine 'Mother India', was convicted under Section 153A of the Indian Penal Code for two articles titled 'A Tale of Two Communalisms' and 'Lingering Disgrace of History'. He argued that the articles were political theses and historical protests, not attacks on any religion, and thus could not be said to promote enmity. The Supreme Court examined whether Section 153A applies when a political or historical narrative is used to incite hatred between religious communities. It held that the provisions are not limited to religion alone and cover any ground such as community, race, or caste. The Court found that both articles explicitly vilified Muslims and portrayed them as a violent community, thereby fostering hatred between Hindus and Muslims. Consequently, the convictions were upheld and the appeals dismissed.

Issues considered

Whether Section 153A IPC applies to writings presented as political thesis or historical truth.
Whether the two articles promote feelings of enmity, hatred or ill-will on the grounds of religion or community.
Whether the scope of Section 153A is confined to religious grounds or extends to other categories such as community, race, caste, etc.

Legislation cited

Indian Penal Code, 1860s. 153A(1)(a)

Subjects

Section 153Ahate speechcommunalismpolitical thesishistorical truthreligious hatredIPCcriminal law

Judgment

...

1082

BABU RAO PATEL
v.
STATE OF DELHI
February 21, 1978

B [R. S. SARKARIA AND 0. CHINNAPPA REDDY, JJ.J
Penal Code, Seorion 153A(1), Scope of-Whether political thesis or hi.slo-
rical truth so presented be said· to promote feelings of enmity, hatred or ilf-
will between different religious groups or communities so as to attract the pro-
visions of Section 153A of the Code.

Dismissing the appeals, by special leave th'e Court,
c
HEID : Section 153A(l) is not confined to the promotion of feelings of
enmity etc. on grounds o~ religion only, but takes in promotion of such feel-
ings on other grounds ns well such .as race, place of birth, residence, language,
caste or community. [1083G]
In the instance case : Both the articles do promote feelings of erun:ty,
0 hat1ed and ill-will between the Hindu and Muslim communities. (J()S6C]
(i} The first article "A tale of two Communalisms" is not even thinly
veiled as a political thesis; it is an undisguised attempt to promote feelings of
enmity, hatr'ed and ill-will between the Hindu and the· Muslim communities-.
It is designed to fain the sparks of ill-will and hatred on ground of contmuni.ty.
The reference to the alleged Muslim tradition of rape, loot, violence and
murder and the al1eged terror struck into the hearts of Hindu minority in a
E neighbouring country by . periodical killings, in the context of his thesis that
communalism is the instrument of ::i militant minority can lead to no other
inferenoe. [1084E-F]
(iij The second article 'Lingering disgraice of history' go'es further and i.s
calculated to rouse feelings of enmity, hatred and ill-will between Muslims and
Hindus. It was \vrong to present the :f\.Ioghuls as ,the ancestors of today's Muslim'!
F and to willify the l\fuslims as the proud discendants of the "foul" Moghuls.
[1084G, 1086A, B, CJ
Feelings of enmity, hatred or ill-will between different religious groups
J
or coipmunities cannot be promoted in the guise of political thesis of histori-
cal truth. [!086C]

CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Criminal Appeal "fos. 237-
G
238 of 1974.
Appeal by special leave from the Judgment and Order dated
14-8-1973 of thei Delhi High Court in Cr!. Revision Nos. 146 and 153
of 1971.
A. K. Sen, Gobind Das, A. N. Karkhanis, Sridharan and Mrs. S.
fl
Bhandare for the Appellant.
Tl. S. Marwah and M. N. Shroff for the Respondent.
BABURAO PATEL v. DELHI STATE (Chinnappa Reddy, J.) ros:1

The Judgment of the Court was delivered by A
• CHINNAPPA REDDY, J. Can political thesis or historical truth be
so presented as to promote feelings of enmity, hatred or ill-will bet-
we~n different religious groups or communities, is the question wh:ch
we are called upon to answer in these two crim;nal appeals. The
appellant in the two criminal appeals is the editor, publisher and
printer of a monthly magazine going by the name 'Mother India'. He
wrote two articles under the captions "A tale of two communalisms'
and "Lingering disgrace of history". On complaints filed by the
Superintendent of Police, Delhi, under section 153-A of the Indian
Penal Code, he was convicted in respect of each of these articles in
separate cases and sentenced in each case to suffer simple imprison-
ment for a period of four months and to pay a fine of Rs. 1000/- by
c
the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Delhi. On appeal the learn-
ed Sessions Judge, Delhi, confirmed the conviction in both the cases
bnt reduced the sentence of fine to Rs. 500/- in each case. This was
confirmed by the High Court. The appellant has preferred chese
appeals by Special Leave of this Court. D
Shri A. K. Sen, learned counsel for the appellant submitted that if
the articles were read as a whole it would be patent that the article
"A tale of two communalisms" was no more than a political thesis and
the second article "Lingering disgrace of history" was no more thallj
a protest based on historical truths against the naming of roads in Delhi
after Moghul emperors. He contended that neither article contained
any attack on any religion and, therefore, there was no question of pro-
moting and attempting to promote feelings of enmity, hatred or ill-w11!
between different religious groups on grounds or religion. The convic-
tions under section 153-A were, therefore, wrong, he suBmitted.
~'. Section 153-A(l)(a) provides, "whoever by words, either spoken F
or written, or by signs or by visibk representations or otherwise, pro-
motes, or attempts to promote, on grounds of religion, race, place ot
birth, residence, language, caste or community or any other )!Tound
whatsoever, disharmony or feelings of enmity, hatred, or ill-will bet-
ween different religious, racial language or regional groups or castes, or
communities shall be punished with imprisonment which may extend G
to three years, or with fine, or with both". It is seen thats. 153A(l).
(a) is not confined to the promotion of feelings of enmity etc. on
grounds of religion only as argued by Shri Sen but takes in promotion
of such feelings on other grounds as well such as race, place of birth,
residence, language, caste or community. In the present case we have
to consider the question whether the two articles promote on grounds H
of religion or community, feelings of enmity, hatred or ill-will between
.. different religious groups or communities .
1084 SUPREME COURT REl'OR rs [1980) 2 S.C.R.

A The first of the articles "A tale of two communalisms" does begin
as a sort of political thesis. Accordmg to the author, "communalism
is an instrument of political minorities". His thesis is that militant
' .
minorities thrive on communalism. If he wanted to develop his thesis
on those lines no-one could object. But, he referred to Muslims
generally as "a basically violent race" and went on to say "communa-
B Iism is, therefore, an instrument of a minority with a racial tradition of
rape, loot, violence and murder as is found in India with a Muslim
population of 12.7%. In Pakistan the Hindn minority is 6.6% but
because its racial tradition is different it does not indulge in commun~
riots . . . . Three essentials are necessary for violent communalism. The
community must be a minority, the minority must be sizable and the
c minority must have a tradition of murder and violence ....... We find
these three essentials in the Muslim community of India". He then
stated in the article that in Pakistan and particularly in East Bengal
peace loving and terror struck Hindu minority was being eliminated by
periodical killing and conversions on a mass scale. "Young Hindu
D males were compelled to undergo vasectomy operations, young and
pretty Hindu girls became the victims of Is'amic beds of lust". It is
then said "It is not in the nature and religion of the H:ndu of India to
be intolerant and blood-thirsty like the followers of Islam". Accord-
ing to him the only answer to the problem of communalism was to
declare India a Hindu State. In our opinion there cannot be the
. -

B slightest doubt that the article is not even thinly veiled as a political
thesis; it is an undisguised attempt to promote feelings of enmity,
hatred and ill-will between the Hindu and the Muslim communities.
It is designed to fan the sparks of ill-will and hatred on ground· of com-
munity. The reference to the alleged Muslim tradition of rape, loot,
violence and murder and the alleged terror struck into the hearts of
F Hindu minority in a neighbouring country by periodical killings, in the
context of his thesis that communalism is the instrument of a militant
ininority can lead to no other mference.
•' {

The second article 'Lingering disgrace of history' is said to be a pro-
test against the naming of Delhi roads after the Moghul emperors
G
who according to the author were lustful perverts, rapists and mur- ..A_
derers. According to the learned counsel the attack was directed
against the Moghul rulers and not against the. Muslims of India. It
was also said that all the statements in the article about the lusts and
perversions of the Moghul rulers were plain historical truths. On a
H full reading of the article it reveals much more than a protest against
naming Delhi roads after Moghul rapists and perverts. At one place
it is said "From Mohammed Ibn Qasim, who landed in India in June
BABURAO PATEL v. DELHI STATE (Chinnappa Reddy, J.) 10 85

. \
712 A.D. with, 6000 Muslim cut-throats, to Mohomed Ali Jinnah, who
cut this ancient cradle of a peace-loving human race into three bleed
ing bits in August, 1947, we have had 1235 years of bloodstained his-
A

tory in which our life has been constantly punctuated by endless raids,
rapes, loot, arson and slaughter. In all these years Hindus have given
millions of men, women and children as hostages to Islam to buy some
• B
peace and preserve their own religion. They are still doing so. God
alone knows how long this process of paying and appeasing Muslims
will go on but it cannot go on for long if the family planning designs
of the present secular government succeed. Because then pretty soon
there would be no Hindu left to pay.

"It is difficult to predict the future of the ancient Hindu race. It c
, has no future at all in Pakistan where a subtle and systematic genocide
of the 10 million Hindus there has now been undertaken at State level
by enforcing vasectomy operations on Hindu males and tubectomies
on Hindu females, and by raping women and converting young
children to Islam. D

• "But as long as the Hindu race lasts and survives in India its only
cradle and grave in the whole world, it will be worthwhile setting
before its children the ideals of its numerous Hindu heroes and nation
builders rather than reminding them constantly of these Moghul brntes
- ' and tyrants who burnt Hindu home~, ravished Hindu mothers and
E
sisters, slaughtered Hindu men and harassed and kidnapped and
converted Hindu children".

After referring to various perversities and tyrannies of the Moghul
rulers ending with Aurangzeb, he said : "To have a street named after
this Mughal bastard in New Delhi, the capital of India, is not only a p
disgrace to the Hindus but a crying insult to the brave community of
Sikhs. Had the Muslims been insulted thus, they would not only have
burnt every house on the road named after the tyrant but also set fire
to the whole damned city. The Muslims know how to guard their
traditions". He expressed the opinion that some of the ancient relics
that reminded Hindus of their sh-ame and disgrace made Muslims proud G
of the foul deeds of their ancestors. He made an appeal that a begin-
ning should be made to wipe out 'our thousand year old shame' by
changing the "Muslim names of roads" which 'remind us of the inhuman
atrocities committed on onr men, women and children'. If the
Moghnls raped, looted, killed and sinned, the author's view appears to
be that they did so as "Muslim sadists". The author goes so far as to H
say that today's MusVms are proud of the foul deeds of "their ances-
tors", the Moghuls being considered by the author as the progenitors
SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1980] 2 S.C.R.

A of the present day Indian Muslims. There is no question that the arti-
i •
cle is calculated to rouse feelings of enmity, hatred and ill-will between
Muslims and Hindus.
Whether communalism is the weapon of an aggressive and militant
minority as suggested by the accused or the "shield of a nervous and
B fearful minority", the problem of communalism is not solved by casii- •
gating the members of the minority community as intolerant and blood
thirsty and a community with a tradition of rape, loot, violence and
murder. Whether the Moghuls were rapists and murderers or not and •

c
whether the Delhi roads should be named after them or not it was
wrong to present the Moghuls as the ancestors of today's Muslims and
to villify the Muslims as the proud descendants of the "foul" Mogl:tuls.
;l
'
We are convinced that both the articles do promote feelings of enmity, ·
hatred and ill-will between the Hindu and Muslim communities on
grounds of community and this cannot be done in the guise of political
thesis or historical truth. The appeals are dismissed.

V.D.K. Appeals dismissed.
•

.-