The Bombay High Court on Monday said actor Kangana Ranaut had the right to express her opinion on a social media platform such as like Twitter.
The observation was made by a bench comprising Justices S.S. Shinde and M.S. Karnik on a petition filed by Advocate Ali Kaashif Khan Deshmukh seeking a direction to block the actor’s Twitter account.
Deshmukh has alleged that the actor’s tweets hurt his religious sentiments and created religious animosity between different communities. He further submitted that Ranaut’stweets were in the form of hate speech and cannot be said to be protected by the right to free speech.
When the bench asked the petitioner how Ranaut’s tweets resulted in breach of his fundamental right, Deshmukh replied that he suffered mental injury through Ranaut’s tweets.
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While Additional Public Prosecutor JP Yagnik pleaded that the petition be dismissed as it may result in multiple people approaching the Court for breach of their individual fundamental right, the bench, however, was of the view that it will not discourage a young lawyer and asked him to file fresh arguments on the next date of hearing.
The matter has been listed for final hearing on January 7, 2021.