Kangana Ranaut has right to express her thoughts: Bombay HC
The Bombay High Court, while hearing a criminal plea against Kangana Ranaut over her alleged offensive tweets, said the actor has the right to have a Twitter account and express her thoughts through it. The petitioner had opined that Ranaut's Twitter account should be blocked. The court will hold the next hearing on January 7. Here are more details on this.
The Bombay HC was hearing a petition by Ali Kaashif Khan Deshmukh, who accused Ranaut of hurting his sentiments. Terming the petition "vague," the court said, "This petition needs to be converted into a Public Interest Litigation (PIL), otherwise many people will read newspapers and start coming to the court stating they are hurt." "Constitutional right and constitutional remedy are different," it added.
The petitioner, on the other hand, told the court, "I am a Maharashtrian, Mumbaikar and she calls the court Pappu Sena. This hurts me and that is a personal injury." He alleged Ranaut has been trying to spread tension and hatred between communities and has also hurt his religion through her tweets. Notably, Ranaut has been targeting the Mumbai Police and the Maharashtra government.
Hearing the plea, Justice SS Shinde noted, "Any individual can have this account. She [Ranaut] also has the fundamental right to have an account to express her thoughts. So, you have to show how your fundamental rights are breached." The court further asked the petitioner, "Unless the case comes under the reasonable restrictions, can we accede to your request?"
"In my petition, there are multiple examples of how she has hurt many feelings. There are many cases filed in various courts against her. There is a personal mental injury that I have suffered through her tweets," the petitioner further told the court.
Ranaut has been attacking the Mumbai Police and the Shiv Sena-led Maharashtra government, over their handling of the mysterious death case of Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput. She had even referred to Mumbai as Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, over which she received criticism from several sections. She was called out by many leaders of the Shiv Sena, some of whom were slammed for using foul language.
Amid the feud between Ranaut and the political party, Mumbai's civic body BMC had demolished the actor's office citing illegal constructions. The Bombay High Court later criticized the move by the BMC and quashed the demolition order.
Ranaut, who has been quite vocal about her opinions on social media, has lately been involved in a number of legal cases. Recently, a couple of legal notices were issued against the actor for her allegedly demeaning post against an elderly woman from the farmers' protest. Two other cases were filed against her in Bihar for allegedly ridiculing former Union Minister Upendra Kushwaha.
