SC Stays Fine Imposed On Those Who Had Mocked Jain Monk Tarun Sagar Who Had Addressed Haryana Assembly

The Supreme Court has stayed the Punjab and Haryana High Court order imposing a fine of Rs 10 lakh each on activists Tehseen Poonawalla and music composer Vishal Dadlani for mocking Jain monk Tarun Sagar who had addressed the Haryana assembly in a state of absolute nudity.

A bench comprising Justice Rohinton Nariman and Justice Surya Kant also issued notice to the Haryana state government on a plea filed by Tehseen Poonawalla against the judgment of the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

The Punjab and Haryana High Court had asked Vishal Dadlani and Tehseen Poonawalla to pay Rs 10 lakh each to get the FIR against them quashed.

Despite finding that no offences had been committed under the Indian Penal Code sections cited in the FIRs – 295A (relating to malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings) and 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language) – the court fined them Rs 10 lakh each. The court had described its action as a gesture of justice to followers of the Jain religion and said that the fine was imposed to give a message so that no one mocked the heads of religious sects.

The Punjab and Haryana High Court had imposed the fine by invoking its powers under Section 482 of the Criminal Procedure Code, which allows it to pass any order for achieving the ends of justice.

Dadlani and Poonawalla had posted their tweets in August 2016, after the Jain monk addressed the Haryana Assembly fully naked. In his speech, the monk Sagar likened religion to a husband and politics to a wife, going on to argue that the latter should always be subservient to the former.

In their tweets, Dadlani and Poonawalla criticised the decision to invite the monk to speak in the state Assembly as well as Sagar’s misogynist or anti-women comments.

Dadlani and Poonawalla were booked by the Haryana Police in August 2016 in Ambala Cantonment for hurting the religious sentiments of the Jain community.

Both had moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court to quash the FIR after the Supreme Court, in September 2016, had directed them to approach the High Court.