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Put down intolerance with an iron hand: Supreme Court

J. Venkatesan

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday deprecated the growing intolerance of exhibition of certain films or paintings and said such dangerous tendencies must be put down with an iron hand.

A two-judge Bench said: “These days unfortunately some people seem to be perpetually on a short fuse, and are willing to protest often violently, about anything under the sun on the ground that a book or painting or film has ‘hurt the sentiments’ of their community. These are dangerous tendencies and must be curbed with an iron hand.”

The court made these observations while upholding the action of the Ahmedabad Corporation in closing down slaughter houses in the city for nine days during the period of the Jain festival Paryushan.

The Bench, consisting of Justices H.K. Sema and Markandey Katju, said the closure was a reasonable restriction and would not violate Article 19 1 (g) of the Constitution.

In an apparent reference to recent violence against north Indians in Mumbai, Justice Katju, who wrote the judgment, said: “India is not an association or confederation of States. It is a Union of States and there is only one nationality that is India. Hence every Indian has a right to go anywhere in India, to settle anywhere and work and do business of his choice in any part of India, peacefully. We are one nation and must respect each other and should have tolerance.”

The Bench said: “Since India is a country of great diversity, it is absolutely essential, if we wish to keep our country united, to have tolerance and respect for all communities and sects. It was due to the wisdom of our founding fathers that we have a Constitution which is secular in character and which caters to the tremendous diversity in our country.”

Quoting a couplet from Tiruvallur’s Tamil classic Tirukkural, which says: “That alone can be called a prosperous country which is free from separatist tendencies and people who harm its sovereignty,” the works of Tamil poets Subramania Bharati and Kaniyan Poonkundranar, and the Mahabharata, the Bench underlined the need for tolerance in society.

In the instant case, the Bench said: “One should not be touchy about a short restriction when it is being done out of respect for the sentiments of a particular section of society. The great Emperor Akbar himself used to remain a vegetarian for a few days every week out of respect for the vegetarian section of Indian society and out of respect for his Hindu wife. We too should have a similar respect for the sentiments for others, even if they are a minority sect.”

The Bench allowed the appeals against a judgment of the Gujarat High Court, which quashed the order of closure of slaughter houses.

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