The case related to the police registering an FIR against a CPI-ML activist who uploaded vacation pictures with the caption ‘Trip to Sirumalai for shooting practice’, which the police interpreted as preparations to wage war against the State. Justice Swaminathan quashed the FIR against the 62-year-old accused while underscoring that the case was ‘absurd and an abuse of legal process’.
While noting that ‘being funny’ and ‘poking fun at another’ is different, the court stated that “Laugh at what?” is a serious question. The court also explained as to why the question becomes pertinent in the backdrop of regional diversity in India.
“…This is because we have holy cows grazing all over from Varanasi to Vadipatty (the place where the police registered the FIR). One dare not poke fun at them. There is however no single catalogue of holy cows. It varies from person to person and from region to region. A real cow, even if terribly underfed and emaciated, shall be holy in Yogi’s terrain. In West Bengal, Tagore is such an iconic figure that Khushwant Singh learnt the lesson at some cost. Coming to my own Tamil Desh, the all-time iconoclast “Periyar” Shri. E.V. Ramasamy is a super-holy cow. In today’s Kerala, Marx and Lenin are beyond the bounds of criticism or satire. Chhatrapati Shivaji and Veer Savarkar enjoy a similar immunity in Maharashtra. But all over India, there is one ultimate holy cow and that is ‘national security’,” it read.
The judge added: ‘Paper warriors are also entitled to fantasise that they are Swadeshi Che Gueveras….Revolutionaries, whether real or phoney, are not usually credited with any sense of humour (or at least this is the stereotype). For a change, the petitioner tried to be funny. Perhaps it was his maiden attempt at humour.’