New Delhi. The Supreme Court, while hearing a case, questioned the Karnataka government as to how raising the slogan of Jai Shri Ram inside the mosque became a crime? The apex court has sought a response from the Karnataka government on the petition challenging the High Court’s decision. The court has asked the petitioner to give a copy of the petition to the Karnataka government. Also, the court says that after the government’s reply, there will be further hearing on this matter in January. Actually, this case is from Dakshina Kannada district where in September, two people named Keertan Kumar and Sachin Kumar entered inside the mosque and raised slogans of Jai Shri Ram.
A case was registered against these two persons on charges of hurting religious sentiments. When the matter reached the Karnataka High Court, the judge dismissed the case filed against these two persons. The High Court did not accept that religious sentiments were hurt by raising slogans of Jai Shri Ram inside the mosque. After this, petitioner Haider Ali challenged the High Court’s decision in the Supreme Court. On this, the bench of Supreme Court Justice Pankaj Mithal and Justice Sandeep Mehta asked how can this be called a crime?
The High Court did not accept the crime
In response to this question, petitioner’s lawyer Devdutt Kamat said that if a person from another community enters a religious place and raises religious slogans, it can spoil the communal atmosphere. On this, the Supreme Court has sought a reply from the Karnataka government in this matter. Earlier, the bench of Justice Nagaprasanna of the High Court, while quashing the case, had remarked that the complainant himself had said that in the area where this incident took place, Hindus and Muslims live in mutual harmony, so in such a situation, raising slogans by two people would cause no harm. How can religious sentiments be hurt?
