The Bombay High Court has quashed the FIR registered against actor Shekhar Suman and Bharti Singh. The FIR pertains to a case from 2010, which involved uttering the words “Ya Allah! Rasgulla! Dahi Bhalla” on a comedy show.

The court said that the mere use of food items in a comic act cannot amount to an insult to religion. The FIR was registered with Section 34 of the IPC, based on a complaint filed by a representative of the Raza Academy.

The complaint pertained to an episode of the show Comedy Circus Ka Jadoo aired in November 2010. Justice Amit Borkar allowed the petitions filed by Shekhar Suman and Bharti Singh seeking quashing of the FIRs against them, noting that the programme was a “light entertainment” show and must be viewed in its proper context.

The bench observed that an offence under Section 295-A requires a “deliberate and malicious intent” to insult religious feelings.

The court said, “A comedy show is not judged by the same standards as a doctrinal speech or a political statement. A performance of this nature is to be read as a whole, and not by selecting stray expressions. Both elements are necessary. If one of them is absent, the offence will not be fully made out”.

The court said, “The complaint in question was made by a person who, prima facie, does not appear to have personally viewed the programme, but acted on the basis of representations allegedly received by the Raza Academy from certain persons. It is contended that the FIR bearing C.R. No. 265 of 2010 came to be registered without any preliminary verification of the correctness of the allegations”.

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