Lawfare, Summons/Notices – Others

Asserting that absence of humour has led to the deterioration in tolerance levels in the country, Aurangabad Bench of the Bombay High Court recently set aside an FIR filed against five people for allegedly having hurt sentiments of those following the Hindu religion.

The Bench comprising Justice TV Nalawade and Justice Vibha Kankanwadi observed, “Here only it needs to be observed that in India due to absence of humour the tolerance level has gone to shocking down. Those “few” who want to get political advantage by raising such issue or who want to create rift in the society or those who are oversensitive and take such posts seriously have created problems for our society.”

The Court was hearing a petition filed by Ashok Deshmukh and four of his Facebook friends, who were booked for insulting Hindu religion by comparing Lord Parshuram with the famous character ‘Parshya’ of Marathi blockbuster, Sairat. His friends were booked for liking and commenting on his post.

The Bench, however, opined that in cases like the one before it, it is the Court’s duty to ascertain the rights and the intention of the accused. It in fact elaborated on the “enlightenment movement”, and the right to fight against traditional authority, with the petitioners contending that they were atheists.