SC puts on hold proceedings against priest for 'true religion' remark

The Supreme Court stayed criminal proceedings against a Christian priest booked by UP Police for stating Christianity is the only true religion. The court issued a notice to the UP government, challenging an Allahabad High Court order.

The Supreme Court on Friday put on hold the criminal proceedings and summons against a Christian priest booked by Uttar Pradesh Police over his statements that Christianity is the only true religion. A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta also issued notice to the Uttar Pradesh government and sought its response on a plea of Reverend Father Vineet Vincent Pereira challenging an Allahabad High Court order.

High Court's Refusal to Quash Proceedings

He challenged the March 18 order of the Allahabad High Court, which had refused to quash criminal proceedings against him. The High Court, while dismissing the plea of Father Pereira, had observed that claiming a particular religion to be the "only true religion" is wrong in a secular country like India and may amount to disparaging other faiths, thereby attracting provisions of law. The High Court had said such statements prima facie fall within the ambit of Section 295A of the IPC, which deals with deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings.

FIR and Investigation Background

As per the FIR lodged by Uttar Pradesh police, he had allegedly held prayer meetings where he repeatedly stated that Christianity was the only true religion, which hurt the sentiments of members of another community. During the initial probe, the investigating officer found no evidence of illegal religious conversion but proceeded with filing a chargesheet over allegations of criticising other religions.

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