Madurai: The Madras High Court on Thursday dismissed a plea filed by actor Kasthuri Shankar seeking anticipatory bail in a case lodged against her for making derogatory statement against Telugu speaking people living in Tamil Nadu, saying the speech made by her clearly hovers around hate speech.
Shankar was booked by the Madurai Police for her alleged statement made at a meeting. She, at a meeting held in Chennai on November 3, allegedly described the Telugu speaking people as the ones who came to Tamil Nadu to serve the wives and concubines, living in quarters reserved for them, of a King. The police registered the case against her under the provisions of the of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and Information Technology Act, including the section dealing with promoting enmity between groups. After registration of the FIR, she had tendered an apology.
If it is handled with kid gloves, anyone will make reckless statements and tender an apology to escape consequence: HC
Justice N Anand Venkatesh, while refusing to grant her anticipatory bail, said that if such matter is handled with kid gloves, anyone will make such reckless statements and tender an apology to escape the consequence.
“A strong message must be sent by the court to the effect that whenever such scurrilous and derogatory statements are made by any person bordering hate speech and thereafter he is caught and prosecuted in accordance with law, tendering apology as a matter of course to escape the consequence cannot be entertained. If it is handled with kid gloves, anyone will make such reckless statements and tender an apology to escape the consequence. One has to own up the responsibility,” Justice Venkatesh said.
Statement has painted all Telugu speaking people in a bad light: High Court
The High Court said that it is true that the controversial statement which has now caused confusion does not directly attribute anything against the womenfolk belonging to the community, however, the statement made by her has painted all Telugu speaking people in a bad light.
The High Court further said that the speech made by the actor clearly hovers around hate speech and the statements made by her is now available in the social media and it can act like a ticking bomb, which will wait to burst at the appropriate point of time by creating violence as among the Tamil and Telugu speaking people.
There must be zero tolerance for such speech in a diverse country like ours: High Court
“Even though the complaint states that the speech was directed against the womenfolk of the particular community, on carefully listening to the speech, it is seen that the entire Telugu speaking people have been demeaned. In a diverse country like ours, there must be zero tolerance whenever such speech is made by demeaning or insulting particular group of people based on their language,” the High Court said.
The High Court, while saying that there is no genuine attempt by the actor to apologize for using such a bad and intemperate language and she is only attempting to justify her speech, said that in cases of this nature, the larger public interest will weigh in the minds of the court.
Must necessarily face consequence if irresponsible statements bordering hate speech are made: High Court
“The words uttered are like the arrow which has already left the bow and it will reach its destination and cause the damage and hence a half-hearted apology will not cure the damage that has already happened. Everyone must be more conscious while uttering a word from a public platform and must necessarily face the consequence if irresponsible statements bordering hate speech are made,” the High Court said while dismissing actor’s plea for anticipatory bail.
