Supreme Court grants relief to priest booked by UP Police for saying Christianity is the only true religion

Supreme Court grants bail to priest booked by UP Police for saying Christianity is the only true religion

The Supreme Court on Friday stayed the criminal case against a Christian priest booked by Uttar Pradesh Police over statements that Christianity is the only true religion.

A Bench of Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Sandeep Mehta issued notice to the Uttar Pradesh government on the priest's plea challenging the criminal proceedings against him.

During the pendency of the challenge, the trial will remain stayed.

The priest's statement is alleged to have outraged the religious sentiments of Hindus.

The Allahabad High Court had recently refused to quash proceedings against the priest, ruling that it was wrong for any person to claim that theirs is the only true religion, as it amounts to disparagement of other faiths.

Justice Saurabh Srivastava had observed that India is a secular country where a particular religion cannot claim to be "only true religion".

"By bare perusal of the narrations made in the FIR wherein it has been mentioned that in his prayer meet, applicant frequently states that there is only one religion which is Christian and also hurts the sentiments of a particular religion i.e. Hindu, whereas India is a land where people of all faiths and beliefs in secular state as defined by Constitution of India, live together, therefore, it is wrong for any religion to claim that it is the only true religion as it implies a disparagement of other faiths," the Court said.

It had noted that Section 295A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) prohibits deliberate and malicious outraging of religious feelings of any class of citizens. Thus, the Court ruled that actions of the accused in the present case come under the ambit of Section 295-A IPC.

The accused challenged the chargesheet against him as well as the trial court order taking cognizance of the offence against him.