The Supreme Court today dismissed the plea of a bank employee, who had challenged framing of charges against him for publishing an allegedly “vulgar and obscene” poem on Mahatma Gandhi in 1994 in an in-house magazine of which he was an editor.
A bench comprising Justices Dipak Misra and Prafulla C Pant said one cannot be allowed to use indecent language for “historically respected personalities like Mahatma Gandhi.”
The bench upheld the Bombay High Court’s decision of not quashing charge of sale/publication of obscene books, framed against accused Devidas Ramchandra Tuljapurkar. The apex court said that freedom of speech and expression does not allow a person to cross “contemporaneous community parameters” on decency.
Categories: Asia, Free speach, India