'Moral policing not…': SC lifts fine on Tehseen Poonawalla
What's the story
The Supreme Court has quashed the imposition of ₹10 lakh costs each on Vishal Dadlani and Tehseen Poonawalla for their tweets criticizing a Jain monk in 2016.
Justices Abhay S. Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan passed the order while hearing Poonawalla's appeal against a 2019 Punjab and Haryana High Court ruling.
The previous judgment had imposed substantial costs on both despite no criminal offense being found in their case.
Moral policing
High court's moralistic stance criticized by SC
The Punjab and Haryana HC had defended the penalty, saying it would deter people from mocking religious leaders for social media limelight.
The SC, however, took exception to the moralistic argument.
"No notice is served. What kind of order is passed? Court should not go on moral policing. This is not function of the court at all," the bench observed during their ruling.
Judicial roles
SC disagrees with High Court's advisory jurisdiction
The SC added the HC shouldn't have exercised its advisory jurisdiction after finding no offense was made out.
"We are of the view that after finding that absolutely no offense is made out, the high court ought not to exercise advisory jurisdiction by telling the appellant that the contribution made by the priest was much more than what the appellant and other co-accused have contributed," it said.
Case details
Background of the case against Dadlani, Poonawalla
Both were booked for promoting discord among religious groups and inciting religious sentiments for their tweets on Tarun Sagar, who had addressed a speech in Haryana Legislative Assembly in 2016.
After his assembly address, Dadlani attacked the monk's appearance at the assembly and his speech on X. He also objected to the presence of religion in governance.
Poonawalla issued similar scathing tweets, questioning why women are shamed when they are semi-nude, while monks are considered holy when they "walk nude."
Apologies
Sagar forgave Dadlani, Poonawalla for their comments
Dadlani later apologized for his tweets and personally sought forgiveness from Sagar but continued to argue for the separation of religion and politics.
Sagar accepted their apologies, saying the two made comments without any knowledge of the Jain way of life.
However, a third non-Jain party initiated a criminal case against them.
The Punjab and Haryana HC dismissed it in 2019 but imposed costs on Dadlani and Poonawalla.