HC refuses to entertain PIL referring to Haasan's 'Godse first Hindu terrorist' remark

The Delhi High Court declined Wednesday to entertain the PIL which referred to actor-cum-politician Kamal Haasan's remark about Mahatma Gandhi's assassin being a Hindu terrorist and sought directions for the EC to "restrict" misuse of religion for poll gains. A bench of Justices G S Sistani and Jyoti Singh said the cause of action for the PIL by BJP leader Ashwini Upadhyay was the remarks by Haasan which was made outside the jurisdiction of the high court here and therefore, it cannot hear it.

"The cause of action has not arisen within the jurisdiction of this court... We find no grounds to entertain the petition," it said. During the hearing, the bench said the incident happened in Tamil Nadu and therefore, the petitioner ought to have moved the high court there.

Upadhyay's lawyer contended that they had made a representation to the Election Commission on May 13 against the remarks, but it has done nothing yet. EC's lawyer told the court that the representation was made only on May 13 and the Commission will need time to look into it.

The court subsequently asked the EC to expeditiously decide Upadhyay's representation against Haasan's remark and dismissed the petition which had also sought debarring of candidates and deregistration of parties that "misuse" religion for electoral gains. Upadhyay, also a lawyer, had alleged that Haasan "deliberately" made the statement in the presence of a Muslim majority crowd for electoral gain.

The petition contended that this was clearly a corrupt practice under the Representation of the People Act (RPA) 1951. Haasan, the president of Makkal Needhi Maiam, had in an election rally speech for his party candidate on Sunday termed Mahatma Gandhi's assassin Nathuram Godse as independent India's first "Hindu terrorist".

He had made the comment while speaking at an election rally on Sunday for his party candidate in Aravakurichi Assembly constituency, where by-polls will be held on May 19, the petition had said. "Haasan has violated the Model Code of Conduct in addition to section 123(3) of the RPA 1951. Kamal Haasan is deliberately promoting enmity between different groups on the grounds of religion and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony and brotherhood, which is an offence under section 153A of the IPC.

"It is a deliberate and malicious act, intended to outrage religious feelings of millions of Hindus, which is an offence under section 295A IPC," the petition had also claimed. It had also said that despite the alleged misuse of religion for electoral gain by Haasan, the EC has not done anything in this regard yet.

In his plea, Upadhyay has also sought a direction to EC to refer to respective investigation agencies the complaints relating to misuse of religion, race, caste, community and language by contesting candidates and political office bearers for electoral gain.

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