NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday refused to order the clubbing of all pending criminal cases against actress Kangana Ranaut over her offensive social media posts targeting the Sikh community.
Judges Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud and Bela M Trivedi stated that “we respect the beliefs and sensitivities of the religious community,” saying, “For every criminal offense there is a criminal remedy. We should be careful when stepping in under Article 32, which gives us broad powers. The greater the power, the greater the responsibility.”
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The court heard a petition from Mumbai-based lawyer Sardar Charanjit Singh Chanderpal, who vented his anger at tweets by Kangana, which he said were attempting to portray Sikhs as “Khalistanis” for taking part in the anti-Sykh riot now repealed farm had participated in legislation.
“How can one person go on and on ranting against a community. Can a person be allowed to be so ruthless as to say we should adopt Indira Gandhi (former prime minister) as our guru since she was squashing us like mosquitoes,” Charanjit said.
The bank said: “The more publicity you give, the more you harm yourself. You are serving your cause by making your statements public… One way of dealing with this is to ignore the fact that we do not advise you.” You have an appeal.”
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The petitioner, who appeared in person, told the court that he had already lodged a complaint against the actor with a lower court and had filed an appeal against her petition with the Bombay High Court to have one of the cases brought against her overturned . He told the court that other cases had also been filed against Kangana Ranaut in other states, which he intends to transfer to Khar Police Station in Mumbai.
The designation refrained from expressing any opinion on hitting FIRs since the petitioner decided to withdraw that prayer. However, the court noted: “Rest assured, we do not concur with these statements. You may withdraw this petition with permission to pursue your appeals… We have treated the tweets (by Ranaut) with great caution as this is still under investigation.”
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A case has been registered against Kangana Ranaut at the Khar Police Station in Mumbai, alleging that she has outraged Sikh religious sentiments, punishable under Section 295A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Separate FIRs were also registered by Maninder Singh Sirsa, President of the Delhi Gurdwara Management Committee (DGMC), Amarjeet Singh Sandhu of Dadar’s Shri Guru Singh Sabha Gurudwara, and Jaspal Singh Siddhu, President of the Supreme Council Navi Mumbai Gurudwara.