SC to hear petition against Mayawati tomorrow

 The Supreme Court will hear tomorrow a petition seeking prosecution of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati for calling Mahatma Gandhi ‘naatakbaaz’.



A bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan is scheduled to hear the petition filed by advocate Ravikant who has also sought directions to the government for making any derogatory reference to the Father of the Nation, as a criminal offence. 



The BSP supremo had made derogatory references to Mahatma Gandhi to give an impression that the Mahatma was not sincere in his efforts for the uplift of Dalits in the country. 



The petitioner has urged the apex court to direct the Union government to take steps to ensure that any derogatory reference to a national leader or freedom fighter should be made an offence as are insulting the national flag and the national anthem.



According to the petitioner, the derogatory remarks made by Ms Mayawati against the man who led the freedom movement with such fervor has deeply hurt the patriotic feelings of the people of the country.



The petitioner has demanded that Mayawati be prosecuted for humiliating the Father of nation publicly as she has neither shown any remorse for her discourteous remarks, nor has tendered any apology to the people.



Even her mentor Late Kashiram had made similar references to the Mahatma and the BSP workers had even vandalised Rajghat, the samadhi of the Mahatma few years ago.

 The Supreme Court today dismissed a PIL seeking prosecution of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati for calling the Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi a ‘naatakbaaz.’. The petitioner had sought directions to the Union government to lay down some guidelines in order to protect the honour of Mahatma Gandhi and other national leaders, martyrs and freedom fighters.



The verdict was seen as a relief for Ms Mayawati.



The petitioner, Ravi Kant, contended before the Bench comprising Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and Justice B S Chauhan that derogatory references made by the Dalit leader and BSP supremo had hurt the patriotic sentiments of the people of this country as they hold the Mahatma in very high esteem.



The petitioner had also prayed for the prosecution of the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister. 



The apex court however told the petitioner, ‘we understand your feelings, but this court cannot grant the relief sought by you ‘ and the petitioner must explore other legal options.