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4. The main contention of the learned counsel for the petitioners is that the said statement by no stretch of imagination would constitute an offence under Section 153-A IPC. It has been further submitted that to constitute an offence under Section 153-A IPC, there must be an intention of the person making the statement to create disorder or to incite people to violence. Even if it is believed that petitioner no.1 had made the said statement, the statement was directed towards the Government people and not against any member, religion, racial, language or regional groups or castes or communities. It is further submitted that if the provisions of Section 153-A IPC are considered in proper perspective, the said offence would not get attracted against the petitioners for making the offending statement and, therefore, taking cognizance for an offence under Section 153-A IPC against the petitioners is wholly illegal and to that extent at least the cognizance order is bad in law and is liable to be set aside.

13. The Supreme Court in the case of Balwant Singh (Supra) has held that the intention to cause disorder or incite people to violence is the sine qua non of the offence under Section 153-A IPC and the prosecution has to prove the existence of mens rea in order to succeed. Paragraph 9 of the said judgment would be apt to extract, which reads as under:-

"9. Insofar as the offence under Section 153-A IPC is concerned, it provides for punishment for promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, caste or community or any other ground whatsoever or brings about disharmony or feeling of hatred or ill-will between different religious, racial, linguistic or regional groups or castes or communities. In our opinion only where the written or spoken words have the tendency or intention of creating public disorder or disturbance of law and order or affect public tranquillity, that the law needs to step in to prevent such an activity. The facts and circumstances of this case unmistakably show that there was no disturbance or semblance of disturbance of law and order or of public order or peace and tranquillity in the area from where the appellants were apprehended while raising slogans on account of the activities of the appellants. The intention to cause disorder or incite people to violence is the sine qua non of the offence under Section 153-A IPC and the prosecution has to prove the existence of mens rea in order to succeed. In this case, the prosecution has not been able to establish any mens rea on the part of the appellants, as envisaged by the provisions of Section 153-A IPC, by their raising casually the three slogans a couple of times. The offence under Section 153-A IPC is, therefore, not made out."
"16. Section 153-A IPC, as extracted hereinabove, covers a case where a person by words, either spoken or written, or by signs or by visible representations or otherwise, promotes or attempts to promote, disharmony or feelings of enmity, hatred or ill will between different religious, racial, language or regional groups or castes or communities or acts prejudicial to the maintenance of harmony or is likely to disturb the public tranquillity. The gist of the offence is the intention to promote feelings of enmity or hatred between different classes of people. The intention to cause disorder or incite the people to violence is the sine qua non of the offence under Section 153-A IPC and the prosecution has to prove prima facie the existence of mens rea on the part of the accused. The intention has to be judged primarily by the language of the book and the circumstances in which the book was written and published. The matter complained of within the ambit of Section 153-A must be read as a whole. One cannot rely on strongly worded and isolated passages for proving the charge nor indeed can one take a sentence here and a sentence there and connect them by a meticulous process of inferential reasoning."

106. On the scope of proximity, it was elucidated in State of Maharashtra v. Mohd.Yakub [State of Maharashtra v. Mohd. Yakub, (1980) 3 SCC 57: 1980 SCC (Cri) 513] that the measure of proximity is not in relation to time and place but in relation to intention."

20. Considering the context and the intention with which the offending words were spoken in a public meeting, at this stage it cannot be said that the offence under Section 153-A IPC is not attracted against the petitioners. The scope of power under Section 482 Cr.P.C. is limited, and it should be exercised in exceptional cases where the complaint or charge sheet does not disclose any offence. Whether the offence under Section 153-A IPC gets attracted or not, would depend on the quality of evidence lead by the prosecution during trial. However, at this stage, this Court does not find any ground to interfere with the ongoing proceedings or the charge sheet.