Mumbai: Kamal Haasan, who was pulled up for his comments on the Mahabharatam, by a petitioner in court, can now breathe easy.
The District Court in Kumbakonam, on Thursday, imposed a fine of '10,000 on the district secretary of Hindu Makkal Katchi (HMK) for wasting its time by filing a frivolous petition, seeking action against Kamal.
The petitioner, K Bala, District Secretary, HMK, in his petition filed on March 24, had demanded maximum punishment for the actor, besides slapping a fine, for having made derogatory remarks against the Mahabharatam in an interview with a private TV channel.
When the petition came up for hearing on Thursday, the honourable judge dismissed the petition stating that there was no prima facie to prove the charge. The petitioner is learned to be in the habit of filing such petitions for the sake of publicity.
"He had earlier, filed a petition against actress Khushbu," the judge said.
Apart from slapping fine on the petitioner, the judge also ordered Bala to remit the fine amount in the bank account exclusively opened for removing kuru vela trees, and submit the receipt before the court with a period of one week.
Reacting to the historic court verdict, Kamal says, “This could be the turning point for all of us, who have been looking for the relationship between fearless speech and nuisance litigation. For too long now, voices of people who make a difference have been silenced by protesters and naysayers, who have no reason to stop people from speaking their mind except to get noticed by doing so.”
Kamal also cites the example of his favourite Urdu writer, whose voice was similarly stifled. “If Sadat Haasan Manto’s voice had not been silenced, he may have lived another ten years and I’d have been able to meet my mentor. It requires a fierce amount of self-determination to stand up to the bullies who pelt stones at voices of dissent. In my case, I am pelted with boulders. But these boulders only make me bolder. I won’t be silenced. To me, silence is death.”
Meanwhile, Khushbu, who was also judicially challenged by the same trouble maker, opines that these humbug litigation and petitions that clutter our courts must stop — “Such protests only show how such hungry-for-two-minute-fame fringe groups wait for an opportunity to harass people, who have a voice. I wonder why these so-called saviours of God never find anything against those who keep making remarks and comments about women and other religions. The courts should punish and impose fines on such creeps who waste the time of the courts.”
