तमिलनाडु पुलिस की लापरवाही: हाई कोर्ट ने दी सख्त चेतावनी

*Tamil Nadu Police Unable to Trace the Accused: Madurai Bench of the High Court Criticises* *Warning: “Hindu Deities Cannot Be Insulted”* *In a case involving derogatory comments posted on Facebook alongside a picture of Lord Sri Krishna, the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court severely criticised the Tamil Nadu Police for failing to identify the accused and submitting a final report stating that “details are not available.”* The court stated that “Hindu deities cannot be insulted” and that “under the guise of freedom of speech, the religious sentiments of Hindus cannot be hurt.” It warned that such acts could create religious hatred and law-and-order issues. The High Court set aside the report of the Magistrate Court that had earlier examined the case and directed the police to complete the investigation and submit a report within three months. The court also noted that the Thoothukudi police had shown negligence in the investigation and had hurriedly filed the final report. Specifically, in August 2022, a man named Satheeshkumar had shared on Facebook a picture depicting Lord Krishna stealing the clothes of the Gopis, along with obscene captions. Court’s observations: According to Bar & Bench, in an order dated August 4, Justice K. Murali Shankar stated: "Depicting Hindu gods in a derogatory manner is a deliberate act of hurting the sentiments of crores of people. This can never be justified. It can lead to religious animosity and disturb public peace.” The judge further said the government must exercise extra caution when portraying images of gods and deities, as disrespecting them could offend large sections of society and disturb communal harmony. The court emphasised that freedom of expression cannot be used as a shield to hurt religious sentiments. It also noted that the story of Lord Krishna hiding the clothes of the Gopis is symbolic, carrying multiple interpretations — one being that the Lord was testing whether the Gopis’ devotion had transcended worldly illusion and desire. The story conveys the importance of spiritual discipline and renunciation. From Satheeshkumar’s Facebook account, a post had been made claiming that Krishna Janmashtami is a festival celebrating the theft of clothes from bathing women. In this matter, a man named P. Paramasivam lodged a complaint, stating that the post was intended to insult Hindu deities and could disturb public order. In February this year, the police filed a “negative final report” before the lower court, stating that they had contacted Meta (Facebook’s parent company) for the account details of the poster but had not received the information. The Magistrate accepted this report and closed the case. Subsequently, the complainant appealed to the Madurai Bench of the High Court. The High Court criticised the M.K. Stalin government’s police force for not acting diligently in this matter. It ordered the police to reopen the investigation and file the final report within three months. The court observed: “Despite the serious allegations, the police approached the matter negligently, stopped the investigation, and closed the case as ‘Undetected.’” It noted that the police had restricted their probe to merely requesting information from Facebook, without taking further steps. The court pointed out that some personal details that could have helped trace the user were already available on the concerned Facebook page, but a proper investigation was not conducted, and the final report was filed in a one-sided manner. Story by :R.Amarvannan Zee For News From Chennai