An Andheri magistrate court while recently ordering a police inquiry on the tweets last year of actor Payal Rohatgi in the context of then jailed Jamia Millia Islamia student activist Safoora Zargar who was then pregnant, has said in its detailed order that prima facie the tweets show disregard to Muslim women and community.
Metropolitan Magistrate Bhagawat T. Zirape said in his order that every community has the right to profess its religion and that no individual has the right to make fun of the customs or rites of another community. The court then went on to state that prima facie the tweets show disregard for Muslim women and community.
It however noted that the complainant had not submitted certificate as required under the Indian Evidence Act to decide the admissibility of electronic records. Magistrate Zirape said that technical investigation about the tweets is necessary to proceed against the accused and such investigation can be conducted only by the police and went on to order an inquiry.
The complainant, advocate Ali Kaashif Khan Deshmukh had approached the magistrate in end-December last year and said that the Amboli police station had failed to take action against Rohatgi for her tweet in June last year which he felt spread hatred towards people of the community. He had stated in his complaint that her tweet was ‘exceedingly derogatory’ to the people of the community and further that her post defamed its women. He said that she had continued the same behaviour in her tweets after a few days on June 7, last year. Further, that the actor was using her fan base and influencing powers to defame the community.
