In a detailed order rejecting a plea by leading writer-lyricist-poet Javed Akhtar after a magistrate’s court issued summons over his alleged comments about Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in a 2021 interview, a sessions court recently said that there was sufficient application of mind by the lower court which had seen how the reputation of the complainant was lowered among his friends and clients as RSS, the ideology of which he followed, was said to have the mindset of Taliban. Santosh Dubey, an advocate and RSS volunteer, had moved the magistrate’s court, saying that Javed Akhtar had defamed the RSS.
The sessions court said that Javed was a respectable and famous person whose words carried weight. It also said, comparison of the RSS to the Taliban mindset, which had indulged in barbaric acts, as stated by Javed Akhtar himself, had ingredients prima facie to cause harm to the reputation of the RSS. The court added that the RSS was well-known in the nation and had enormous followers and supporters. Taliban, it added, and its activities were also known worldwide.
The advocate for the petitioner/accused (Javed Akhtar) said, the complainant (Dubey) misled the magistrate’s court by picking up words. The complainant stated that the interview was specific about the Taliban, and that there was no need of dragging the RSS while discussing and commenting on the barbarian activities of the Taliban.