The Himachal Pradesh High Court recently refused to grant anticipatory bail to one Dr. Nadeem Akhtar over posting derogatory comments about Hindu deities on Facebook.

The court noted that the accused was not an ordinary man but an educated individual who was fully conscious of the potential impact of his alleged post and comments.

Allowing the bail application would send the wrong signal to society and encourage others to make such comments to cause resentment in followers of other religions, which is not good for the secular fabric of the country, the court said.

“While residing in the society, it is the duty of every person to give due respect to the religious beliefs of other members of the society. In the name of freedom of expression, the laxman rekha should not be crossed,” the court added.

The complaint filed against Akhtar said that he had posted derogatory comments against Shivling and Nandi. The complaint added that he habitually made such posts.

During the investigation, the police obtained printouts of screenshots from Akhtar’s Facebook page, which contained the derogatory posts.

Akhtar, meanwhile, claimed that his Facebook account had been hacked and that the controversial posts were made by someone else.