Prayagraj: The Allahabad High Court has refused to discharge a man accused of posting casteist remarks against Lok Sabha MP Chandrashekhar Azad on social media.The court observed that, at the stage of framing charges, it is only required to examine whether a prima facie case exists and not conduct a minitrial.With these observations, Justice Santosh Rai, dismissed a criminal appeal filed by Chandra Prakash Singh alias Goli Thakur, who had challenged a trial court order rejecting his discharge application.The case was registered at Sumerpur police station in Hamirpur district under Section 352 (intentional insult) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), Section 66 of the Information Technology Act and relevant provisions of the SC/ST Act.The appellant contended that the FIR was lodged after a delay of about seven days and that no specific casteist words were mentioned in the social media post. He also argued that the allegations were vague.Opposing the appeal, state govt submitted that the appellant was specifically named in the FIR and that the investigation had collected sufficient prima facie material, including the social media post containing the allegedly objectionable remarks.The court noted that although the FIR did not reproduce the specific casteist words allegedly used, it stated that abusive remarks were made against the Nagina MP.The court further observed that the statements of prosecution witnesses specifically referred to the abusive words used.In its July 21 order, the court said a prima facie examination of the material indicated that the remarks under challenge were allegedly directed against a particular community belonging to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
