Justify plea to ban Kangana Ranaut’s Twitter account: Bombay HC to man

The Bombay high court (HC) on Thursday directed a man to justify how his petition, seeking a ban on actor Kangana Ranaut’s Twitter account could be treated as a writ petition and not a public interest litigation (PIL), as his claims of injury were not personal but involved the entire Muslim community.

The Bombay high court (HC) on Thursday directed a man to justify how his petition, seeking a ban on actor Kangana Ranaut’s Twitter account could be treated as a writ petition and not a public interest litigation (PIL), as his claims of injury were not personal but involved the entire Muslim community.

The petitioner claimed actor Kangana Ranaut has been misusing her social media account to malign and abuse a community and create disharmony between Hindus and Muslims. (HT FILE)

In light of the claims by the petitioner, the state submitted that the petition was misconceived and should be dismissed.

A division bench of justice SS Shinde and justice MS Karnik, while hearing the criminal writ petition filed by advocate Ali Kaashif Khan Deshmukh, was informed that he had submitted that as the actor has been misusing her social media account to malign and abuse a community and create disharmony between Hindus and Muslims, Twitter India, which was also a respondent to the petition, should be directed to ban her account.

Additional public prosecutor JP Yagnik, however, claimed that the petition was vague and did not raise any grievance about any personal injury to the petitioner. He opposed the petition and called for its dismissal.

Deshmukh, however, clarified that though there was no personal injury caused to him by the said objectionable tweets of the actor, as the same were targeted at a particular community which he belonged to, he had filed the petition.

The court then directed Deshmukh to explore and study the issue: whether it should be pursued as a writ petition or a PIL, and inform the court about it by December 21.

The petition has referred to the Twitter account of Ranaut’s sister, which was suspended by Twitter for the alleged objectionable tweets made by her earlier this year, and sought a similar action against the actor’s account as well.