Gauhati HC Quashes Case Against Influencer Abhishek Kar

The Gauhati High Court has quashed a criminal case against financial influencer Abhishek Kar, who was accused of making derogatory remarks about Assamese women during a YouTube podcast last year.

The case, registered in January 2025, invoked provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), the Information Technology Act, and the Assam Witch Hunting (Prohibition, Prevention and Protection) Act, 2015. Kar was alleged to have outraged the modesty of Assamese women and spread offensive and misleading narratives about Assamese society.

According to the complaint, Kar had claimed that in Assam there existed places where women practised black magic and witchcraft, could turn humans into animals, and later revert them to establish physical relations. The remarks triggered public outrage, following which legal action was initiated.

Kar later approached the High Court seeking quashing of the proceedings. His counsel submitted that the influencer had apologised for the statements and had no intention of hurting the sentiments of Assamese people or women.

Hearing the matter, Justice Pranjal Das observed on February 9 that none of the penal provisions invoked against Kar were applicable in the present case. The Court noted that the alleged remarks did not meet the legal requirements necessary to constitute offences under the cited sections of the BNS.

On the charge of promoting enmity or making statements prejudicial to national integration, the Court held that the statement did not incite hostility between communities based on religion, race, place of birth, or language. It further observed that the remarks, though controversial, did not qualify as obscene under Section 67 of the Information Technology Act.

The Court also found that the statement did not attribute witchcraft to any specific individual in a manner that would attract provisions of the Assam Witch Hunting Act. It noted that the legal definition requires imputations suggesting a person has harmful supernatural powers, an element that was not present in the statement in question.

Concluding that the allegations, even when taken at face value, did not satisfy the ingredients of the offences cited, the High Court held that there was no justification for registering the case or filing the chargesheet. It accordingly quashed the entire criminal proceedings.

Senior Advocate HRA Choudhury appeared for the petitioner, while Additional Public Prosecutor K Baishya represented the State.

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