Giving a befitting reply to blatant bigotry and abuse, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has slapped a fine of Rs. 10 lakh each on Vishal Dadlani and Tehseen Poonawalla for their derogatory comments on Jain Muni Shri Tarun Sagar ji. In August 2018, an FIR was registered against Dadlani and Poonawalla in Haryana’s Ambala district after they questioned the authorities for inviting Sagar to address the Haryana Legislative Assembly.
Vishal Dadlani, in a tweet, had insulted the Jain guru; he used the hashtag #NoKachcheDin along with the tweet, which was deleted after an outrage. He had tweeted:
Tehseen Poonawalla, a close relative of the Gandhi-Vadra family had also tweeted derogatory remarks aimed at Jain Guru. He had tweeted: “Why is this ‘naked’ man ‘holy’ even if he walks ‘nude’ in the state assembly while a woman would be termed slut (sic)”.
The late Digambar Muni on comments made against him had said “He (Vishal Dadlani) just knows that the Digambar Sadhus remain naked. He does not know about the Indian culture. Had he known about that, he would not have made such a comment. There is no question of apology as I am not angry with him. But the people of the society who respects me get hurt and they protest. Everyone should have the courage to say something which is wrong.”
Justice Sangwan of the Punjab and Haryana High Court said, “If the contribution made by the petitioners towards poor people is compared to the contribution made by Jain muni Tarun Sagar, it is apparent that the petitioners have played a mischief to gain publicity without having much to their credit,”
Justice Sangwan further added that in recent years, the country has “witnessed large-scale violent protest on incitement made by using social media platform, thereby causing extensive damage to public property. However, the preaching’s of Jain muni Tarun Sagar about non-violence, sacrifices and forgiveness, has avoided repetition of such like protest”.
The court also added that after the fine (Tehseen and Vishal) “may not mock at any head of a religious sect, just to gain publicity on social media like Twitter,”
The court after imposing a fine of Rs. 10 lakh each to “do justice” to the Jain community, has also noted that no charge under the law is made out in the case, While Dadlani had later apologized to the monk, Poonawalla told the court that he has no regrets over the tweets. With the imposition of fines, the court has also quashed the FIR against the two.
Tehseen Poonawalla, a close relative of Gandhi Vadra family had been called out multiple times over his derogatory and unintelligent remarks over social media. Not apologizing only indicates towards his respect and regard for traditions of other communities.
Meek attempts to desecrate an ancient cultural tradition to gather publicity points are not only condemnable but also shameful and only point towards the indophobic mindset that lurks in the minds of these so-called ‘activists’ and ‘artists’. This move by the court is sure to set a good precedent against any similar attempt in the future, which plays with the sentiments of a community to sooth one’s ego.