Bengaluru Special Court Sentences Engineering Student To 5-Year Imprisonment For Celebrating Pulwama Attack

An engineering student has been sentenced to five years imprisonment by a special court in Bengaluru for making derogatory comments on Facebook posts after the 2019 Pulwama terrorist attack.

The court, benched by Judge Gangadhara C M of the Additional City Civil & Sessions Judge, found Faiz Rasheed, 22, guilty under Section 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion) and Section 201 (causing disappearance of evidence) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Derogatory Post On Facebook

In 2019, Rasheed took to Facebook to celebrate the terrorist attack and mock the Indian Army by making 23 comments on the posts of various media outlets.

Evidence to show Rasheed had made derogatory posts on his Facebook account was produced by the prosecution. The court noted that the posts supported the suicide attack on CRPF Jawans at Pulwama and promoted enmity between religious groups, which would likely disturb the public tranquillity, NDTV reported.

The court further noted in its statement that the "adduced evidence to show that the accused made the posts and comments with an intention to disrupt the sovereignty and integrity of India and the comments made by the accused clearly go to show that he felt happy with the incident attack on CRPF Jawans at Pulwama by terrorists which caused disaffection against India."

Why Was Rasheed's Plea For Probation Denied?

The accused's advocate argued in the court saying Rasheed's age at the time he made the comments was below 21, and hence, should be released on probation. However, the court denied the plea for probation saying it was a deliberate act by Rasheed, and instead sentenced him to prison.

The court observed that the derogatory comments made by Rasheed weren't a one-time incident and that he had made several comments on posts made by all the news channels on Facebook. The court further stated, "He was not an illiterate or ordinary man. He was an engineering student at the time of the commission of the offense and he made the posts and comments intentionally on his Facebook account."

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