Kerala High Court refuses to quash case against man who said nuns are concubines of priests, bishops

The Kerala High Court recently rejected a plea to quash criminal proceedings against a man booked for posting a video on YouTube and Facebook alleging that Christian nuns were being made to serve as 'concubines' of priests and bishops [PV Samuel v State of Kerala & ors]..Justice A Badharudeen opined that there was sufficient material to indicate that the alleged offences against the accused man, one PV Samuel, were prima facie made out. Samuel had been booked for the offences under Sections 298 (uttering words, etc. with intent to wound religious feelings) and 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, 1986.“The offences are prima facie made out from the materials. In view of the matter, prayer for quashment is found unsustainable and is dismissed," the Court said in its September 2 ruling..Samuel has been accused of publishing a news item on online platforms such as Facebook and YouTube, that allegedly insulted nuns by calling them concubines of priests and bishops.In his plea to quash the case, Samuel's counsel argued that the news item was based on the account of two nuns who had suffered sexual harassment and torture. He argued that the video was only intended to raise awareness and that there was no evidence to support the allegation that the video was meant to be an intentional insult. He added that there is no clarity on what specific abusive language was used in the video to attract criminal proceedings. The prosecution countered that the video, uploaded on June 1, 2020, was designed to hurt religious sentiments and degrade nuns, Christian bishops, and priests. It was also alleged that the video had indecently represented women..The Court eventually concluded that a prima facie case has been established and dismissed Samuel's plea..The petitioner (PV Samuel) was represented by advocates C Unnikrishnan (Kollam), MR Sudheendran, Uthara AS, Vijaykrishnan S Menon, D Jayakrishnan, Praveen P, and Vivek Nair P.Public Prosecutor MP Prashanth appeared for the State..[Read Order]