Published on:19 July 2023 at 19:53 IST
Case: Supreme Court
Citation: Fiona Shrikhande v. State of Maharashtra (2013)
Honourable Supreme Court of India has held that it is not the law that the actual words or language should figure in the complaint for invoking Section 504 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860. It is held that the complaint must prima facie should have element of intentional insult so as to provoke any person to break the public peace or to commit any other offence. It is not the law that a complainant should verbatim reproduce each word or words capable of provoking the other person to commit any other offence. It is essential for a complaint to have a background facts, circumstances, the occasion, the manner in which they are used, the person or persons to whom they are addressed, the time, the conduct of the person who has indulged in such actions are all relevant factors to be borne in mind while examining a complaint lodged for initiating proceedings under Section 504 IPC.
13. Section 504 IPC comprises of the following ingredients viz. (a) intentional insult, (b) the insult must be such as to give provocation to the person insulted, and (c) the accused must intend or know that such provocation would cause another to break the public peace or to commit any other offence. The intentional insult must be of such a degree that should provoke a person to break the public peace or to commit any other offence.
The person who intentionally insults intending or knowing it to be likely that it will give provocation to any other person and such provocation will cause to break the public peace or to commit any other offence, in such a situation, the ingredients of Section 504 are satisfied. One of the essential elements constituting the offence is that there should have been an act or conduct amounting to intentional insult and the mere fact that the accused abused the complainant, as such, is not sufficient by itself to warrant a conviction under Section 504 IPC.
Drafted By Abhijit Mishra
