Virtues among political leaders have become scarce and dear during their public speeches: Karnataka High Court

Virtues like maintaining decency, decorum, and responsible use of language by political leaders in public speeches have become scarce and dear these days, observed the High Court of Karnataka.

“As a Constitutional Court, this court could only expect and hope that responsible use of language would be employed by the leaders in their public speeches and all dispensations,” observed a Division Bench comprising Chief Justice N.V. Anjaria and Justice K.V. Aravind, while dismissing with a cost of ₹25,000 a PIL petition, filed by All India Dalit Action Committee, Bengaluru.

The petitioner had sought a direction to the authorities from the court to take action against Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi for throwing to the winds the norms of decency by allegedly making statements adverse to the modesty of women in his speech at a rally in Shivamogga during campaigning of Lok Sabha polls.

It was alleged in the petition that Mr. Gandhi had defamed a certain section of women while speaking about the episode of former MP Prajwal Revanna’s rape cases and obscene videos. The petitioner pointed out that Mr. Gandhi had breached several provisions of the law apart from violating the election model code of conduct.

Without going into the merits or demits of alleged statements referred in the petition, the Bench said that this issue does not come under the purview of PIL petition when other recourses and remedies are available to the petitioner in relation to the alleged statements.

Leaving open to the petitioner to take appropriate recourse, the Bench said that it is not for the court to assess and opine about public utterances, which may be made by political leaders in course of their public speeches or during the election canvass.

The Bench imposed the cost on the petitioner for filing misconceived petition as a PIL and wasting judicial time.

Published - November 18, 2024 08:51 pm IST