The order was issued during the hearing of Poonawalla’s appeal against a 2019 Punjab and Haryana High Court decision by Justices Abhay S. Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan.
Despite the fact that no criminal wrongdoing was discovered in their case, both were subject to significant costs under the earlier ruling.
SC criticizes the moralistic stance of the high court. The penalty had been defended by the HC of Punjab and Haryana, who claimed that it would deter individuals from making fun of religious leaders in order to gain attention on social media. The SC, however, took exception to the moralistic argument.
“No notice is served. What kind of directive is issued? Court should not go on moral policing. This is not function of the court at all,” the bench observed during their ruling.
judicial functions SC disagrees with High Court’s advisory jurisdiction
The SC added the HC shouldn’t have exercised its advisory jurisdiction after finding no offense was made out.
“We are of the view that after finding that absolutely no offense is made out, the high court ought not to exercise advisory jurisdiction by telling the appellant that the contribution made by the priest was much more than what the appellant and other co-accused have contributed,” it said.
Case details
The case against Dadlani, Poonawalla’s background For their tweets about Tarun Sagar, who had given a speech in the Haryana Legislative Assembly in 2016, both were charged with promoting division among religious groups and inciting religious sentiments. After his assembly address, Dadlani attacked the monk’s appearance at the assembly and his speech on X. He also objected to the presence of religion in governance.
Poonawalla issued similar scathing tweets, questioning why women are shamed when they are semi-nude, while monks are considered holy when they “walk nude.”
Apologies
Sagar forgave Dadlani, Poonawalla for their comments
Afterward, Dadlani issued an apology for his tweets and personally sought Sagar’s forgiveness, but he continued to advocate for the separation of politics and religion. Sagar accepted their apologies, saying the two made comments without any knowledge of the Jain way of life.
Nevertheless, a third non-Jain individual filed a criminal complaint against them. In 2019, the High Court of Punjab and Haryana tossed it out, but Dadlani and Poonawalla were fined.