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WHAT WAS THE CASE ABOUT

  • The case began in 2017 due to Haasan’s remarks over the Mahabharata.
  • During an interview, when questioned about the status of women and violence faced by them, he referred to the Mahabharata, where a woman had been used as a collateral in gambling.
  • A complaint was filed by Aadhinatha Sundaram before the Judicial Magistrate.
  • It was said that Haasan had hurt the religious sentiments of Hindus by making such a reference.

WHAT DID THE COURT SAY

  • The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court dropped all legal proceedings ongoing against actor-politician Kamal Haasan.
  • Justice G Ilangovan observed that there was nothing hurtful in the comments made by Haasan.

RATIONALE BEHIND THE DECISION

  • Drawing references from texts and epics was common and the intention to insult was lacking.
  • It was only a casual interaction between the interviewer and the actor-politician.
  • Criticism was a part of free society.
  • Such a case was an abuse of the court’s process.

RELEVANT SECTIONS OF THE LAW

  • Section 298 of the Indian Penal Code talks about utterance of words that would hurt the religious sentiments of others with a deliberate intent to do so.
  • Section 295 A of the Indian Penal Code deals with the punishment to be given for deliberate acts that intend to insult a religion and its believers.
  • Such an act can be done through words, spoken or written.
  • Punishment can be given in the form of 3 years of imprisonment and/or fine.

SIMILAR INCIDENTS

  • In 2018, Abhijit Iyer-Mitra was charged under Section 294, 295 A, 153 A, 500 of the IPC and Section 67 of the Information Technology Act.
  • This case was in relation to allegedly making some hurtful comments on Twitter regarding the Konark Sun Temple.
  • Another incident that took place in Paris, France was the killing of the cartoonist who published caricatures about particular Gods and deities in the Charlie Hebdo newspaper which was deemed blasphemous by the followers of that religion.

What do you think of this case? Let us know down below!

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