The Maharashtra government, on Thursday, urged the Bombay High Court not to entertain a petition seeking to suspend the Twitter handle of actress Kangana Ranaut. The HC has, however, adjourned the matter till Monday.
The state urged a bench of Justices Sambhaji Shinde and Makarand Karnik not to entertain the writ petition filed by advocate Kashif Khan seeking directives to Twitter to permanently suspend Kangana's handle from the social media platform.
Jayesh Yagnik, the public prosecutor for the state, told the bench that the reliefs sought in the plea are vague and cannot be granted in writ jurisdiction.
"The prayers sought are vague and vast, which cannot be granted under the writ jurisdiction of this court," Yagnik said, adding, "The matter doesn't have any head or tail. It is a baseless petition as it is silent on how the tweets are affecting the petitioner or the public at large."
At this, advocate Kashif told the bench that Kangana has been misusing the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput. "She has also labelled the protesting farmers as terrorists," the counsel pointed out.
To buttress his contention, Kashif even cited the recent observations of the HC bench led by Justice Shahrukh Kathawalla, which had asked her to refrain from making any "loose or irresponsible statements."
The judges sought to know if Kashif was personally injured or affected by any of Kangana's tweets. To this, he pointed out that he has a locus in the matter since he is personally affected by Kangana's posts.
"I practice the faith of Islam and she has been posting several things against my faith. Her comments are impacting an entire community," Kashif pointed out.
Having heard him, Justice Shinde pointed out that the prayers sought could be granted only in a PIL and not a writ jurisdiction.
"We think you aren't affected personally, but you are only espousing the cause of the community," Justice Shinde said.
The judges, accordingly, granted Kashif time till Monday to "ponder" and decide if he wishes to file a PIL seeking similar reliefs.
