On Friday, the Supreme Court dismissed a petition filed by a Sikh lawyer, Charanjeet Singh Chanderpal, seeking censorship of Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut's social media posts. The petitioner has two options, according to a bench consisting of Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice Bela Trivedi: ignore Kangana's statements or seek legal recourse.
A bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and Bela Trivedi told petitioner Sardar Charanjeet Singh Chanderpal, a lawyer, who appeared in person, that the remedy he was seeking could not be provided under the Article 32 petition and that he would have to seek justice under criminal law.
In response to the petitioner's objection to Kangana's remarks on Sikhs, Chandrachud replied, "You are doing your cause a disservice by publicising what she said. The more you publicise it, the more you serve her cause. So, please stop repeating,"
The lawyer alluded to Kangana's Instagram message, in which she wrote: "Khalistani Terrorists maybe arm twisting the Government today, but let's not forget one woman, the only woman Prime Minister ne inko apni jooti ke neeche crush kiya tha (the only woman PM who crushed them under her shoes)...No matter how much suffering she caused to this nation… she crushed them like mosquitoes at the cost of her own life…. Lekin desh k tukde nahi hone diye…even after decades of her death… aaj bhi uske naam se kampte hain yeh…. Inko vaisa he guru chahiye… (they shiver from her name even today…they need such a guru)."
Kangana's "outrageous" and "defamatory" claims that "Sikh Farmers were Khalistani Terrorists" and attempted to paint the group as "anti-national" continue, according to petitioner Chanderpal. "When we go to Gurudwaras and sit with regular Sikhs, no one knows who is a Khalistani and who is a Sikh," the petitioner stated.
“There are two possible solutions. Either you ignore the utterances made by her or avail remedy under law. We respect the community. We respect your faith…By speaking these utterances you are doing more disservice to the cause. Don't try to prejudice the mind of the court. Don’t politicise it. We have read these utterances in your file. You don't need to speak up.” When Chanderpal sought to read the comments Ranaut had posted on social media, the bench warned him that he was wrong.
The bench said, "Don’t you think that common Indian citizens understand this and know the differences?"
"You want all FIRs to be clubbed and investigated exclusively by the Khar police? Who are you to do all this? You are not the accused, you are not the complainant, you are some person in the public, you are a member of the bar..." The petitioner wished to combine various FIRs filed against Kangana, but the bench refused.
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