Even ‘unsaid words’ in WhatsApp message can promote enmity, says Allahabad High Court

In its ruling passed on September 26, the HC held that the WhatsApp message that Afaq sent after his brother was arrested in a case of alleged unlawful religious conversion, had the potential to “outrage religious feelings” and “create ill-will between communities”, even though the message contained repeated assertions of his faith in the judiciary.

The HC Bench noted that while the message “may not speak per se about religion”, it “definitely conveys an underlying and subtle message that his brother has been targeted in a false case because of belonging to a particular religious community”.

These “unsaid words” could “prima facie outrage the religious feelings” of others, the court ruled, and allowed the police investigation against Afaq to continue.

The chain of events began on July 19, when Arif Ahmad, the brother of Afaq Ahmad, was arrested after an FIR was filed by RSS worker Sandeep Kaushik accusing Arif of obscenity in public, provoking breach of peace, and criminal intimidation.

Kaushik alleged in the FIR that Arif, who ran an electronics and gas-filling shop with his father, had “connections with anti-national and anti-social elements”, and was “involved in love jihad” — allegedly luring Hindu women into relationships, obtaining passports for them under false names, and taking them abroad to sell them.

The FIR was later expanded to include charges of rape, administering poison, cheating, forgery, and unlawful religious conversion through misrepresentation or allurement under the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, 2021.

Arif remains in jail.

According to Afaq, in July 2020, his brother began a relationship with a Hindu woman.

“I knew about it and insisted that he should marry within our community,” Afaq told The Indian Express on October 14. “He (Arif) agreed, and got married in 2023, and had a daughter. I thought the matter was over.”

But on July 19 this year, Afaq said, he received a call from some local people asking him to attend a meeting where “members of all communities” were present. There, he was told that his brother had tried to convert a Hindu woman, and had planned to take her to Dubai.

On July 30, an FIR was registered against Afaq on the basis of a WhatsApp message he sent to two people. As per court records, this FIR was registered by a police sub inspector, based on screenshots of the message taken by one of the alleged recipients.

In the message, Afaq allegedly said that his brother had been “framed in a false case by putting political pressure on the police”, lamented that “a call has been made for a total boycott of my family’s livelihood”, and expressed the fear that he may be lynched.

In the message, Afaq repeatedly expressed faith in the country’s legal system, saying that “the court will expose the lie”. However, the HC found that Afaq’s “subtle message” suggested his brother was being targeted for his religion, and that could outrage religious feelings.

Afaq’s lawyer Syed Shahnawaz Shah argued that the message merely conveyed his client’s anguish. The HC disagreed, observing that the “unsaid words” carried an implicit communal charge.

On August 4, Kaushik filed another FIR, this time against Arif’s uncle Sadik, who had allegedly told a local media channel that his nephew had been framed. This FIR accused Sadik of promoting enmity under Section 196(2) of the BNS.

When asked why he had filed the first complaint, Kaushik told The Indian Express on October 15 that the family of the affected woman was “scared”, and that he had helped them “as a responsible member of society”.

The Indian Express visited the Ahmad brothers’ cloth shop in Chandpur last week, and found it locked.

Station House Officer Amit Kumar, Circle Officer Desh Deepak Singh, and Superintendent of Police (City), Bijnor, Dr Krishna Gopal Singh did not respond to repeated calls and messages requesting a comment.

A senior official told The Indian Express that the investigation in the case is almost complete, and the police will soon file a chargesheet.