'Don't Vilify Any Community': Supreme Court's Message On 'Ghooskhor Pandat'

The Supreme Court on Wednesday sent a message to public officials in high constitutional offices - 'don't vilify and degenerate any community'.

The court stressed that public figures, particularly those holding high constitutional offices, such as ministers, must not target any community on the basis of religion, caste, language, or region, as it violates the Constitution.

On the 'Ghooskhor Pandat' controversy, Justice Ujjal Bhuyan observed: "It is constitutionally impermissible for anybody, be it the State or non-State actors, through any medium, such as, speeches, memes, cartoons, visual arts, etc. to vilify and denigrate any community."

"It will be violative of the Constitution to target a community on basis of religion, language, caste, or region, by whosoever he or she may be," he said, "This is particularly true for public figures in high constitutional office who have taken a solemn oath to uphold the Constitution."

Justice Bhuyan made these observations in a separate judgment on challenges to 'Ghooskhor Pandat', a forthcoming Hindi-language movie produced by streaming platform Netflix.

A two-judge bench that also included Justice BV Nagarathna was hearing the case.

Directed by Neeraj Pandey and starring Manoj Bajpayee, the film sparked a major political and social row after many on social media claimed the title 'defames' the Brahmin community.

The case was closed after the filmmakers agreed to change the title.

The court said concerns expressed earlier about the title - that, translated from Hindi, reads 'corrupt Pandat' - denigrating a particular section of society.

But, in his separate judgement, Justice Bhuyan said he felt it necessary to restate constitutional principles governing fraternity and freedom of expression to avoid future misunderstandings.

The court's remarks are particularly relevant given it turned down petitions last week to file a police case, and order an inquiry by a Special Investigation Team, or SIT, against Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma over alleged hate speech incidents.

The incidents in question refer to a video, released by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party's Assam unit, that showed him shooting at a photograph of Muslims and, before that, comments about Miyas, i.e., Bengali-speaking Muslims whom the BJP has called "illegal infiltrators".

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On these issues - the video and the comments - the top court urged political parties to restrain themselves and "act within the boundaries of constitutional morality". However, it stopped short of acting itself and directed the petitioners to approach the Gauhati High Court instead.