[Terming India a 'Hindu Fascist Enterprise’] Calcutta High Court to hear plea against Arundhati Roy, Prakash Raj

Today, the Calcutta High Court took up for hearing a Public Interest Litigation which highlighted certain statements made by Award-winning author Arundhati Roy and actor Prakash Raj against the Hindu Community and for calling Central government a "Hindu Fascist Enterprise".

Advocate Mita Banerjee, the petitioner, highlighted an interview given by Roy to Al Jazeera, an international news channel, earlier this year. 

Before a Bench of Chief Justice TS Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharyya, the Advocate took exception to Roy’s statements. “How can she say such things that too on a channel like Al Jazeera, which is a mouth piece of terror outfit Al Qaeda, which is run by Osama Bin Laden”, the advocate said. 

It was the advocate’s case that Prakash Raj also made similar statements on social media platform X, previously Twitter. 

It is the Advocate’s case that both Roy and Prakash can’t call the Indian government a Hindu Fascist Enterprise as it enjoys the mandate of majority of the population. 

“Despite the fact that these are responsible citizens of our country, they have made such remarks”, the Advocate said while adding that the statements have harmed our feelings of Hindus. Stating that Hindus don’t support fascism, the Advocate said that the former is taught to defend Dharma. 

“We are taught from childhood itself that if we defend our Dharma, our Dharma will come to protect us, as Rama, Krishna, and others have done”, the Advocate said, as was reported by various news platforms. 

Owing to the gravity of the statements, a direction was sought to remove their statements from social media platforms such as “Twitter," the advocate stated. The provisions of National Security Act, 1980 have also been invoked in the plea. 

As the matter moved to a close, the bench noticed that the petitioner had failed to provide effective service to the respondents and asked them to do the needful.