Sending messages protesting to government officials’ mobile phones is not a crime, a case cannot be filed: Bombay High Court

New Delhi: From now on, no one can be criminalised for a message sent to a government official on his mobile phone in protest against anything. Earlier, there have been cases of a message sent to a government official by protesting like this as a threat. But recently the Bombay High Court [Abhijit Michael v. State of Maharashtra] has said that the message sent to a government official in protest is often a threat. The FIR was quashed.

Abhijit Michael had sent a message to Ashwini Bhide, the then managing director of the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation, urging him not to cut down more than 3,000 trees in Aarey Colony, a green lung form in the city. While perusing the messages, the court noted that the purpose of the petitioner is only to protect the forest. “There is no objectionable statement or any obscenity in these messages,” the court said.