SC Quashes Rs 10 Lakh Fine on Vishal Dadlani, Tehseen Poonawalla
Top court says judiciary’s role is not moral policing, slams High Court for overstepping after quashing FIR
The Supreme Court on Tuesday struck down a 2019 Punjab and Haryana High Court judgment that had imposed a Rs 10 lakh penalty each on singer-composer Vishal Dadlani and political analyst Tehseen Poonawalla over their tweets against Jain monk Tarun Sagar.
A bench of Justices A.S. Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan observed that once the High Court had concluded no offence was made out under the IPC or IT Act, it should not have gone further to impose costs. The High Court had earlier quashed the FIR registered under Sections 295-A, 153-A, 509 of the IPC and Section 66E of the IT Act, but imposed the fine to deter similar remarks in future.
“The function of the court is not to do moral policing,” the Supreme Court ruled, criticizing the High Court for acting beyond its legal mandate by offering moral commentary. It also noted that the High Court’s advisory remarks—comparing the social contributions of the monk and the accused—were unwarranted in a judicial order.
The apex court’s ruling reinforces the importance of judicial restraint and upholding freedom of expression within the bounds of law.
