section 295a

CONSIDER THIS:
1. An Zero FIR for any documentary provable "cognizable offence" can be filed anywhere in India, by anybody.

2. However, the Police will record the zero FIR and forward it to the relevant applicable jurisdiction Police Station, for Investigation & initiating Prosecution.  SC has passed judgment/s on procedures for such FIR's.

Keep Smiling .... Hemant Agarwal
VISIT: www.chshelpforum.com

Hey,

Section 295-A of IPC talks about deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage reli­gious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or reli­gious beliefs. It states that any person who with deliberate and malicious intention outrages the religious feelings of any class of citizen of India by his acts spoken, written, by signs or by any visible representations, insults or attempts to insult the religion or religious beliefs commits an offence under Indian Penal Code.

Now the objective of the provision is to punish any deliberate, intentional or malicious acts of outraging religious sentiments of any class by insulating its religion or the religious beliefs. This section only punishes an aggravated form of insult to religion when it is perpetrated with deliberate and malicious intention of outraging the religious feelings of a class.

The offence under section 295A is cognizable and a non-bailable and non-compoundable offence. 

Instance of such an offence is the Kiku Sharda case, where he was arresting on the charges of hurting the feeling of Dera Sachha Sauda Chief after he mimicked their leader in one of the shows.

Now, to answer your question,

1. It is better to file such a case against a person because if a case is filed against a media house, the concept of lifting of corporate veil (under corporate criminal liability) has to be applied where the people behind the company’s actions are identified and charged. Hence, easier to file a complaint against a person.
2. Ideally FIR should filed in the police station closest to the place of incidence. However a “Zero FIR” allows for any police station to register an FIR, regardless of their jurisdictional area.  It is usually used for crimes such as murder and rape and other cognizable offences, i.e. an offence for which police can take action without prior court approval. Hence you have the option of Zero FIR.

Hope this answers your question!

Regards

Palak Singh

Yes, ZERO FIR can be registered u/s 295 IPC.

Section 295A of Indian Penal Code is to punish deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage the religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs. This section only punishes an aggravated form of insult to religion when it is perpetrated with deliberate and malicious outrage of religious feelings. The insult must be by words, spoken or written, by signs or by visual representation or otherwise.  

• The punishment for the offence is imprisonment of up to three year or fine or both.
• The offence is cognizable, non- bailable and non- compoundable offence.

The Supreme Court has said that unwitting and careless insults to religion should not be prosecuted as this would amount to misuse of law. This section only punishes aggravated form of insult.

Section 153A also deals with a similar kind of offence, which intends to punish those who promote enmity between different groups on ground of religion, race, place of birth, residence & language.

To answer the second part of your question,

FIR is filed under section 154 of the Criminal Procedure Code. To decide whether FIR can be registered in a Police station without jurisdiction, the case of Bimla Rawal v. State, plays an important role.

There is a concept of Zero FIR which allows filing of a FIR in any police station regardless of the place of incidence or jurisdiction. This FIR is transferred to the police station having the competent jurisdiction after investigation and filing with a magistrate.

This law was brought into picture by Criminal law Amendment Act, 2013. It is also given in Section 460(e) of CrPC, that if in good faith, any magistrate takes cognizance of matter, which they’re not empowered, the proceedings will not be set aside merely on the grounds of not being empowered.

Therefore, to answer your question, Section 295A can be filed against any media house, if they’ve deliberately or maliciously acted towards outraging the religious feelings of any class.

FIR can be filed without jurisdiction as a Zero FIR to prevent miscarriage of justice. However, due to lack of knowledge of existence of such provision, policemen direct the complainant to Police Station having the jurisdiction.

Regards,

Karishma Yadav