MP High Court Quashes FIR, Filed Against Teacher For Uploading Urdu Poem As His Whatsapp Status
The FIR is conspicuously silent on any such intent attributable to the petitioner: The Court
BHOPAL: The Madhya Pradesh high court has quashed the FIR, registered against a government school teacher for uploading an Urdu poem recitation as his WhatsApp status, saying that the content is a ‘satirical and thought-provoking commentary on the issue of human rights violations against women’.
In his order, Justice B P Sharma observed that “The act of the petitioner (the accused in the case) in sharing a poetic recitation without any additional commentary or intent to incite, cannot be construed as promoting enmity or public mischief because, the Urdu poem written by Shoaib Kaini which was uploaded on the WhatsApp status (DP) by the petitioner and poem relates to condition and sarcastic take on human rights, abuse of women in Pakistan or any other country.”
The case relates to petitioner Faizan Ansari, a teacher in a government school in Betul in Madhya Pradesh, who was booked under section 353 (2) of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) (criminalizing the spread of false information, rumours, or alarming news aimed at promoting enmity or hatred between different groups) by the Chicholi police in Betul District after he uploaded a video of recitation of the Urdu nazm ‘Be-haya’, authored by Kaini, as his WhatsApp status.
The FIR was lodged against him soon after he uploaded the video as his WhatsApp status at around 10:15 am on July 22, 2025 without any additional message or commentary.
“The FIR is conspicuously silent on any such intent attributable to the petitioner. The act alleged against the petitioners is confined to posting a video of a poetic recitation, without any additional commentary or exhortation and there is no material to suggest that the petitioner intended to incite hostility between communities or the content was directed against any identifiable group”, the court observed.
The court further said that the poem was shared thousands of times on social media and highly appreciated by noted litterateurs at the national and international levels.
