Academic and author Madhu Purnima Kishwar has approached the Punjab and Haryana High Court seeking quashing of the criminal proceedings initiated against her in connection with an X post involving a video purportedly depicting Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The petition comes after Chandigarh Police registered an FIR against Kishwar in April 2026 following a complaint alleging that she had circulated a misleading 14-second video accompanied by an objectionable caption falsely identifying the person appearing in the footage as the Prime Minister.
Kishwar has challenged the criminal case on the ground that the allegations do not disclose the ingredients of the offences invoked against her and has sought exercise of the High Court’s inherent jurisdiction to prevent abuse of the process of law.
The dispute concerns a video clip that was circulated on social media and subsequently debunked as not depicting Prime Minister Modi. The prosecution alleges that Kishwar shared the clip with accompanying text that conveyed a false identification and thereby contributed to the circulation of allegedly misleading and defamatory material.
The case had earlier reached the Punjab and Haryana High Court when Kishwar sought protection from arrest. In May 2026, a Single Bench of Justice Aman Chaudhary declined to grant her anticipatory bail, holding that the nature of the allegations, the stage of investigation and the prosecution’s claim regarding the need to ascertain the origin of the video weighed against extending pre-arrest protection.
During the anticipatory bail proceedings, Kishwar’s counsel had argued that she had merely reposted a short video and had neither created nor manipulated the footage. The defence also maintained that there was no criminal intent and that the allegations did not justify custodial intervention against an established academic with no criminal antecedents.
The prosecution, however, had opposed the plea, contending that the social-media post had the potential to mislead the public and malign a constitutional functionary. The High Court, while dealing with the anticipatory bail application, had drawn a distinction between legitimate or constructive criticism and social-media content allegedly intended to defame or malign.
Kishwar’s fresh challenge is distinct from her earlier plea for anticipatory bail, as she now seeks substantive termination of the criminal proceedings themselves. The High Court, while exercising its jurisdiction under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, or the corresponding statutory framework applicable to the proceedings, may examine whether continuation of the prosecution would amount to an abuse of the process of the Court or whether the allegations, taken at face value, constitute the offences alleged.
The FIR was registered at Sector 26 Police Station, Chandigarh, on a complaint by advocate and former BJP councillor Satinder Singh. The complaint alleged that the video had been accompanied by forged or misleading text and falsely represented the individual appearing in it as the Prime Minister.
The proceedings raise questions concerning the limits of criminal liability for social-media republication, the distinction between creation and dissemination of allegedly false digital material, and the extent to which criminal law can be invoked against online speech concerning public figures.
The High Court’s consideration of Kishwar’s quashing petition will therefore determine whether the allegations and material collected during the investigation disclose a prima facie criminal case warranting continuation of the proceedings, or whether the prosecution ought to be interdicted at the threshold in the interests of justice.
The filing of the quashing petition does not, by itself, amount to any finding on the truthfulness of the allegations or the culpability of Kishwar. Those issues remain subject to judicial determination.
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