The Supreme Court recently granted anticipatory bail to a Muslim poet accused of hurting religious sentiments and creating communal discord through his poem on Lord Ram and Goddess Sita, LiveLaw reported. A bench of Justices MM Sundresh and Aravind Kumar passed the order noting that the petitioner was cooperating with the probe.

An FIR filed on January 23 alleged that the petitioner, hiding his real identity, created a Facebook account under the name “Neelabh Sourav” and posted a poem titled “Ram” that contained obscene words aiming at Lord Ram and Goddess Sita.

The petitioner approached the Gauhati High Court pleading that he had no intention of hurting anybody’s religious sentiments. He said that he had not mentioned any community and claimed that he wrote the poem, which aimed to shed light on societal issues, exercising his right to freedom of speech and expression.

The High Court denied him pre-arrest bail observing that the investigation was ongoing and the petitioner’s custodial interrogation was “indispensable”. The court also noted that the petitioner was absconding since the incident and expressed concern that granting bail could hamper the investigation or lead to witness tampering..

Following this, the petitioner approached the Supreme Court, arguing that no custodial interrogation was necessary since he had admitted authorship of the poem.

He claimed that after the post’s negative reception, he issued a public apology and removed it from social media, expressing his reverence for Lord Ram and Indian traditions. He stated that he is a respected poet known by the pen name ‘Neelabh Sourav’, and that his intention was to depict the hardships faced by impoverished daily-wage workers.

Referring to the poem, the petitioner explained that the names “Ram” and “Sita” were used due to their organic and popular nature in the country, aiming to represent the broader spectrum of workers experiencing hardships.

A notice was issued on the petition on March 15 , when a bench of Justices MM Sundresh and SVN Bhatti also granted the petitioner interim protection from arrest on the condition that he cooperates with the investigation.