Change of pen name may not amount to insulting Basavanna followers: SC

DHNS
September 20, 2017

New Delhi, Sept 20: The Supreme Court on Tuesday said there should be tolerance for different views and hypersensitivity in religious issues must be stopped.

“True religion teaches detachment and all its true followers are detached. They don't bother about worldly affairs. Only those who are interested in politics of religion have all kinds of problems,” a bench of Justices S A Bobde and L Nageswara Rao observed.

The court was hearing a plea by Akhila Bharata Veerashaiva Mahasabha that supported the Karnataka government's decision in 1998 to ban and seize a book, 'Basava Vachana Deepti', edited by "Poojya Sri Mahajagadguru Mathe Mahadevi" for hurting religious feelings of the followers of Basavanna, a 12th century social reformer, philosopher and poet.

Senior advocate R Basant, along with advocate Nishant Patil, contended that Basavanna is the founder of a religious sect and Mathe Mahadevi has hurt the religious sentiments by changing the pen name from "Kudalasangama Deva" to "Lingadeva" of "Vachanas". Basavanna's followers are known as Lingayats.

“Vachanas are the foundation of my sect. Those are like the Bible, the Gita and the Quran. My seer's vachanas are being hijacked and outraged. Vachanas are intrinsically related to my sect. Why change the pen name?” Basant asked.

The bench, however, said, “According to our preliminary view, it is a non-issue. Don't read that book. It is her rendition. There are all kinds of views but not everything requires rebuttal or restriction.”

The court said that it would not go into the issue as to whether Lingayats and Veerashaiva form a separate religion. The freedom of speech and expression under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution has to be protected and that a mere change of pen name may not amount to insult to the followers of Basaveshwara, it added.

Citing Section 295A of the IPC, pertaining to the offence deliberate and malicious act to outrage religious feelings, the bench said, there were laws enacted by a ruler who wanted to have the power to prosecute people. So, taking offences in all these matters have to be stopped.

Basanth, however, responded, “Emotive sensitivity will have to be taken care of. Our followers are ordinary mortals. In a knowledge society, it may not be necessary. In a plural society, offending anyone feelings is also not accepted.”

“Your arguments that instead of Basavanna, she has become the author is not correct. She is fusing identity of 'Kudalasangama Deva' same as 'Lingadeva'. We are examining if change constituted an insult or attempt to insult. We are trying to see from a point of view of common religious people,” the bench said.

The court will resume hearing the arguments on part of the Karnataka government on Wednesday.

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News Network
March 26,2024

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Mangaluru: Officials from Cyber Economic and Narcotics Crime Police Station in Mangaluru have arrested a man for allegedly engaging in an online fraud by deceiving a person on the pretext of offering a part-time job. The arrested is Saddam Gauri alias Bavuri, 30, from Rajasthan.

City police commissioner Anupam Agrawal said the CEN police received a complaint regarding an online scam related to a part-time job offer.

Police registered a case under sections 66(C) and 66(D) of the IT Act, along with IPC Section 420. The complainant had received a link via WhatsApp from an unknown number, purportedly offering a part-time job opportunity.

Upon clicking the link, the complainant was instructed to complete certain tasks to earn money. However, during the process, the complainant incurred a loss of Rs 1.1 lakh.

Following an investigation into the matter, the CEN police successfully arrested the suspect and presented him before the court. In the course of arrest, police seized two mobile phones, eight debit cards, four bank cheque books, Aadhaar card, PAN card, and other relevant documents from the accused.

The arrest was made possible through the efforts of CEN station inspector Shyam Sundar and his team, under the guidance of City Crime Records Bureau (CCRB) ACP Ravish Nayak and DCP Siddharth Goyal.

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News Network
March 27,2024

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Gokarna (Uttara Kannada): Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar on Wednesday said the Congress will decide about making him the Chief Minister in future, bringing to the fore again the issue of leadership change.

There was stiff competition between Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar for the Chief Minister's post after the Assembly election results in May last year, and the Congress had managed to convince the latter and made him the Deputy Chief Minister.

There were some reports at the time that a compromise had been reached based on a "rotational Chief Minister formula," according to which Shivakumar will become CM after two-and-half years but they have not been officially confirmed by the party.

During a temple visit here, a priest prayed that God's blessings may be showered on Shivakumar, and he became the Chief Minister.

Speaking to reporters here in Uttara Kannada district, Shivakumar, who has in the past made no secret of his ambition to become Chief Minister, amid speculations of change in guard mid-way of the Assembly term, responded to talk in some political circles about the leadership issue.

"What's wrong if a priest expresses his desire before God while praying? The priest has expressed his desire. Now Siddaramaiah is the Chief Minister, I'm working as Deputy Chief Minister under him, also as party's state President. People speak about it and desiring it (Shivakumar should become CM) is a different matter, it will be decided by our party," Shivakumar said.

"Now we are all working under the leadership of Siddaramaiah, and our desire is that the state should progress further under his leadership," he said.

"There will be people including supporters and priests, who pray for us, they will express their opinion. Can we stop them from doing it? At the temple it is between God and his disciple, they have expressed their feelings to God," Shivakumar added. 

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News Network
March 22,2024

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Bengaluru, Mar 22: An FIR has been registered against BJP MP Tejasvi Surya over a provocative hate post on social media, Election Commission officials said on Friday.

The move comes after a complaint filed by officials of the poll body and Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) that the Bengaluru South MP, who is also the President of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, had in a post apparently targeted a minority and spread enmity between two communities.

He also made a similar post on March 19 on X and YouTube which went viral. He has 1.3 million followers on X, thereby influencing the voters and disturbing the communal harmony between the communities, it further alleged.

Based on the complaint, an FIR was registered at Halasuru Gate police station on March 20 under sections 153 A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony), 295 A (Deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) of the Indian Penal Code and the Representation of the People Act, the officials said.

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